Eliza Barr: Social media must be regarded with the caution we used to have about strangers online

We used to correctly understand the internet as an unregulated place to be treated with caution – and we need to heed that old wisdom when it comes to children using social media, writes Eliza Barr.

Children need to rediscover the wisdom we once knew about online safety. Picture: Getty Images

I’m old enough now to say it: back in my day, we understood the internet was a wild and unregulated beast, and to treat it with the appropriate caution.

So with all the wisdom of hindsight, how do we have this many adults furiously arguing that their children should be allowed unfettered access to platforms run by finance-focused tech bros who demonstrably do not care about their wellbeing?

I speak on this subject as an early internet adopter and a court reporter with a front-row seat to the depths of evil predators are capable of.

When I was in late primary school in the 2000s, I was on Neopets – an online pet game you play in a browser.

Aside from playing games, taking care of your pets, and building pet websites – which is how I learned to code, long before it was ever taught in schools – it had a forum where you could chat to other users around the other world.

Online tech giants do not care about your child’s wellbeing, writes Eliza Barr.

But back then, we treated these platforms with the care they rationally required when you were talking to unknown people online.

It was not even remotely up for debate when I was a child on the internet – you never told anyone your real name, your age, your location, or showed them your face, and you never spoke to people privately, because you never really knew who you were dealing with online.

When did we become so carefree with our information online?

With the advent of social media – light years of development past forums – the old safety etiquette went out the window.

Now children are posting their faces, school uniforms and locations with abandon, leaving them vulnerable to bullies, nudifying apps, blackmail and predators.

It’s true there are drawbacks – children building healthy communities of interest online, for example, will have to wait now – but so too do they wait for drivers licences, or the ability to go to the pub.

We have made those decisions on the basis of calculations about children’s ability to handle risk and responsibility – and the same must apply with social media.

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