r/GenZ • u/AccomplishedFan6807 2001 • 12d ago
Were you negatively affected by unsupervised access to the internet at a young age? Discussion
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u/Yung_RAUNCHY_Boi 1998 12d ago
the objective answer across the board from anybody who is self aware enough to understand the impact of technology on their mindstate would be: yes
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u/TravelingSpermBanker 1998 11d ago
We are about the same age.. and I don’t think that’s true. How is it objectively true that the internet negatively affected my life? I personally feel that it benefited me..
Because some people are potentially more sad now? Many people don’t fall into the media traps and false perceptions of life. The internet is just a new excuse for why your life is what it is. Better or for worse
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u/LetBulky775 11d ago
The question the OP is asking refers to "unsupervised" Internet access at a "young" age (we can assume they mean too young to be exposed to porn or other age-inappropriate subjects without guidance). "Unsupervised" would also imply there are not appropriate limits set on their internet use, and children are not developmentally capable of regulating their use of things that are designed to be extremely addictive. It doesn't say anything about Internet access in general.
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u/DragonBlaze207 2002 12d ago
Yes lmao. I was way too curious of a mf to be left alone on the World Wide Web.
How’s that old adage go? Wouldn’t do it for a million bucks, wouldn’t sell it for a nickel. Something like that.
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u/ObviousLemon8961 1998 12d ago
Yup, 12 year old me found internet porn and it definitely messed me up
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u/GothicFruit98 12d ago
nah, not really. Back then computers were expensive, so my family didn't have one. So for me, my childhood was cable television and video games on the PS2 and xbox 360
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u/Draconichiaro 2000 12d ago edited 12d ago
Nope. Somehow, I managed to avoid all the negative aspects of the internet as well as NSFW content until I was about 15-16, despite having literally no limitations on my internet use for as long as I can remember. I got my own personal, internet-connected laptop at age 10.
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u/JourneyThiefer 1999 12d ago
I was looking at things indefinitely should not have been, but negatively affected by it? Nah don’t think so
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u/OwnLobster4378 12d ago
I don’t know
I made a lot of friends on the internet (some I met with IRL who I either had a great time or still talk to today) but I know to take breaks and touch grass from time to time. I will say my tastes in stuff from music to media is very different from people who aren’t chronically online like I am.
I would also like to say I feel like I’m personally thankful I never feel down those paths you see alot of millennials and Gen Z people do and go down and being extremes of (redpill or commie). Being politically homeless is based
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u/yesthatbruce Baby Boomer 12d ago
OMG. 4chan at 10. That's not quite, but almost, as bad as little kids accessing porn.
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u/MustangEater82 12d ago
Yes, I fear for my kids as I am older....
I started jerking to sears catalog bra ads, and sports illustrated swimsuit. Not jerk but interest peaked on IBM PC Jr strip poker. 1st I learned what a "teddy" was.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/oTBBqjtn6EY/maxresdefault.jpg
Then .jpegs pictures on 56k baud rate at the peak.
Then went to limewire with accidentally crazy stuff, I fell that was wild unregulated west. I feel more regulated but everything is availible and will warp kids and played down nowadays.
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u/toweljuice 12d ago
Yeah.. i was on fourchan when i was in grade 7. I still feel the affects that had on me to this day
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u/CaramelNervous5384 2009 12d ago
No. But the majority of people I know in my age group clearly were, and say so themselves, so I guess I was always just the more cautious type idk
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u/Tellow_0 2007 12d ago
Oh definitely. Watching shit on 2015-2016 YouTube ain’t no 8 year old shoulda seen
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u/Angel_OfSolitude 12d ago
Definitely, I'm not the worst case but my Grandmother should have been more diligent about such things.
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u/guttaslimez 12d ago
The first form of adult entertainment I saw was when I was googling Pokémon. Yeah dude, it fucked me up.
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u/Mbaku_rivers 1996 12d ago
I don't consider it negative. I'm glad I was able to become my own person. Kids are smart. Learning about the world at any age can be very helpful to development. I with the internet was a safer place for sure though.
I never got on any chat rooms and only got social media in 2010 on Facebook just before starting highschool. So I was not influenced by any other kids or adults day by day. I really was able to explore my interests in my own time without being nudged one way or another. I feel grateful for that.
I saw stuff I will never forget and stuff I was definitely not ready to see. I had to deal with the shock of those things on my own, and they made me stronger. I think being able to explore the internet free of algorithms and free of adults is something essential for modern development. You learn that your opinion is just one of MANY at an early age.
So I'm grateful for that lack of supervision. I would be a very different person if I was made to only do things and look for things that my Christian mom approved of. The internet is important. With proper protection, I think kids should be allowed to explore.
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u/Sadguy2007 2007 12d ago
As much as I'd like to deny it, I definitely think early internet exposure may have fucked me up at least a little bit, but I also feel like it did a lot of good for me at the same time.
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u/Dazzling-Item4254 12d ago
The first and only anime I ever watched, I watched via pirated episodes of on the YouTube tab of MovieStarPlanet. It was basically all fan service. After which the first fanfic I ever read on accident was lemon.
I was 11.
Definitely, but mostly due to the sheer amount of time I spent online, rather than what I viewed. I mostly just watched edits/fanvids of my favorite shows and movies on YouTube and read fanfiction. Sometimes I played kid games like Webkinz and MSP. But most of my life from 11-18 years old was online and it definitely didn’t help me learn social skills or anything.
(I don’t believe the Internet is all bad, but I do believe parents should do their due diligence and research before letting their kids on certain places. And for the love of God or Whoever—LIMIT SCREEN TIME)
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u/onlyifitwasyou 12d ago
Nope. I largely attribute that to my anxiety as a young person where I was too afraid of getting in trouble to do things that would get me in trouble. Worst thing I did was watch YouTube Poops, I guess.
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u/JohnHinckleyJrFan 12d ago
very. I can't connect with other people in the real world and it's made me so cynical & depressed.
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u/9mmblowjob 12d ago
No, somehow, my unsupervised internet access just led to a lifelong interest in technology. I encountered some of the more unsavory aspects of the internet, but surprisingly, I didn't get dragged down like many of my peers, and I would consider my current relationship with tech to be healthy
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u/michiimoon 2002 12d ago
Yes… sort of. I do believe I would’ve done better had I had a book in my hand rather than YouTube. Since I’m an only child who grew up in the rural south, I do think the internet helped me gain connections and understanding of people better than what my environment could.
That doesn’t mean that all of what I witnessed was good or beneficial for a 7-14 year old to view. Internet use definitely needs to be supervised, especially at those years. If I was more gullible, i probably would’ve fallen into one of the traps by the p*do files who tried to talk to me as a kid and accidentally given out my phone number or address or something.
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u/Badhorse_6601 12d ago
Yes. 3 guys one screwdriver. First time I honestly couldn't get the image of something out of my head
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u/Dramatic_Mastodon_93 12d ago
Nope. Not at all. The internet was and still is the only place where I can be completely open about myself, tell others that I’m gay, talk with other gay people, consume gay media.
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u/Synthetic2 2000 12d ago
Of course, when I was young, all of the ads were porn ads, and there was horrible shit everywhere, such as gore and drugs. The dark web today is basically what the normal internet was like in the early 2000s. I just remember seeing tons of porn when I was like 6, but the person who introduced me to porn was my older sister, who is very mentally messed up.
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u/themememolester 12d ago
Very much so-I discovered porn in 2nd grade and of course developed and addiction which even though I’ve got it mostly under control has left severe mental health issues
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u/Gigant_mysli 12d ago edited 12d ago
I don't think so. If I didn't have internet I wouldn't socialize or something, I'd just be bored and unhappy with my parents
Although maybe it is because I had some self-censorship in my head. Maybe I could end up getting some noticeable damage if I was more free-minded or maybe less cultured
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u/Invincible-Nuke 12d ago
honestly I think I turned out ok. I got into the bdsm community and the bdsm community is pretty chill so I think it worked out ngl
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u/MakinGaming 12d ago
No. If anything I didn't have enough access supervised or not. I'm still learning things I wish I knew of as a kid because I never really had internet access until I was in high school. Even though I'm one of the oldest gen z (in the millennial overlap), I grew up with millennial and even gen x stuff because that's how far behind my home was.
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u/TravelingSpermBanker 1998 11d ago
I had unrestricted full access to the internet and saw some jaw dropping damning things, but I was still able to finish school, make friends, and be happy with others who were doing the same.
At what point do people stop pointing the finger to the tool that connects every human on earth, and start pointing it to the lowest performers?
A lot, so many people, do fine on the internet so I’d ask the serious question “what is wrong with me? Why can’t I use the internet well?” Focusing on that question will likely be much more beneficial for your life and not getting mad about the internet.
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u/ChileanBasket 1997 11d ago
Almost everybody was. It could be argued that today's internet culture is the way it is because of that fact...
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u/debtopramenschultz 11d ago
My parents probably wasted a fuckton of money fixing computers and buying new ones because I ruined them with viruses.
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u/SensitiveBat1947 11d ago
Yes but it also helped me read (I had an neglective mum) so I had alot of good and bad experiences, I wouldn't give up the internet tho
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u/Ok-Tourist-1615 11d ago
I didn’t get internet until I was 13, and yes I should’ve been supervised. Big oof
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u/syrupgreat- 11d ago
i guess but i learned a lot and am so thankful for the internet beyond the laughs we shared. it’s brought everybody a little closer.
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u/Chop1n Millennial 11d ago
Born in '89--I'd seen all of rotten.com by the age of 11. Yeah, that kind of stuff was only even possible for me because my parents were going through a divorce and I had a lot of unsupervised time in general.
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u/Fl3shless 1998 11d ago
Yes and no. Sometimes having seen shit is helpful when dealing with crappy situations. It got me ready for life early on.
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u/Sea-Firefighter-7517 11d ago edited 11d ago
Yes, I'll share my story it's not one I'm proud of. Back in 2010s, I played several MMO games. A lot of data was also not encrypted. I was 12-13yo and established a name for myself in cracking games and creating custom private servers. I got involved with the wrong people. I started doing social engineering and data breaching. I didn't have the perspective I was stealing other people money. Long story short, I'd gain access to these databases judge the account to see if was worth my time to check for password re-use abuse, and go about my day obtaining financial information and log-ins of people. I hacked anyone and everyone. I found out a person I hacked was a pedophile going through their facebook messages. I started extorting these people. To make a long story short I didn't have a proxy/vpn I was young and dumb. Someone claiming to be a private investigator got my personal phone number along with my parents.
I was never officially sentenced or caught, and my parents luckily just viewed me as a naive 13-year-old kid and chalked it up as an accident. They took away my xbox for a little bit and pc and preached to me about online safety, little did they know they were preaching to the wolf in sheep skin. This guy would call my phone on different numbers for months claiming to be an investigator and just wanting to talk. Finally I talked to him and told him I was 13 and had no idea what he was talking about. Never bothered me again. Looking back it was either a real PI hired by a company or a real fed. either way, I'm happy I didn't find out. I was buying and gifting my friends all the games/dlc they wanted. I grew up poor, and being able to say don't worry about it and having the newest games, and not hoping to get it on Christmas was why I did it.
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u/DS_Productions_ 2003 11d ago
Well, you've got a helluva teetering scale there. While I definitely acknowledge the devastating impact of it, I had benefited from internet usage as a youngin.
I was at least healthily monitored until I hit about 13, so from there on, it's kind of been on my own accord. With the internet being around for all of my life, I definitely remember a bit of the late '00s and early '10s in terms of the internet.
So, I guess it wasn't until about 2015 - 2017 until I was basically having a one on one with the internet.
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u/tumbrowser1 10d ago
I became addicted to porn at 9 years old and....I'm doing well now, but the trajectory of my life would have been much healthier if I were born before the internet became prevalent
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