Tim, I just hope you stay with me on this debate, because I'm not going anywhere, and you get butthurt(no homo) at the drop of a dime.
Kids, are absolutely getting exposed to the wrong influences.
First, this thread is about conservatives in Texas wanting to relabel slavery in ways to make the enslavers look less evil. My point stands: saying kids need to be protected from knowing about evil things in history (making our founding fathers look less heroic) is just a way for adults to protect or promote their bigotries.
Your point: that kids today are being exposed to the wrong influences, has been made by adults since Elvis Presley. The root cause of it is the same: mass communications and other technologies are making the world a smaller place.
Radio, tv, cable tv, CDs, Napster, Blockbuster, video games. Music: Tipper Gore held congressional hearings on how the music industry was destroying our youth (Sept 1985). Video games. You should have heard the cries about how video games were destroying our youth.
The flaw in your argument is that you're claiming kids in previous generations were innocent and protected. This may have been true for some, and it is still true for some today. But many if not most children do not have idealized childhoods. They see alcoholism, drug abuse, domestic violence, sexual abuse, hunger, crime, war. It is always been that way.
The wonder of mass communications of today is that kids now know they're not alone, and there are often resources to help them. A girl (or boy) being molested by a father, stepfather, relative, pastor, etc., might have confided in their mother or other person that this was happening. Often in the past they were told that we have to keep this quite to protect the reputation of the family or church. Now because of that hand held device, they can look for help, and if they choose, scream it from the roof tops.
In the past, a kid who questions their sexuality or gender, often believed they must be the only person in the world that feels this way. This often led to self destructive behavior or suicide. Now with that hand held device, they know they're not alone, and that it does get better.
Now I agree that social media companies need to be regulated. Their algorithms only want to increase views. Based on what a kid will click on, their AIs keep feeding them more and more extreme stuff. This is not healthy for the kids or for society. Now you and I may disagree on what is the most dangerous stuff the AIs are pushing. For me it is the white extremist content.
Tiktok has been very profitable pushing extremely short content. Now all the other social media companies are trying to catch up. I believe being fed a constant diet of extremely short content makes it difficult for kids and adults to concentrate on longer tasks.
As far as participating in debates here, I drop out when it just becomes name calling, or when the real world requires my attention.
