Concerns regarding teen access to illicit apps (Warning: Sensitive subject)

Protecting Yourself - Get Safe Online (UK): https://www.getsafeonline.org/personal/article-category/protecting-yourself/ (Website)

Includes a list of related topics such as, Safe Online Dating, Safe Internet Use, AI, etc.

There’s a lot of interesting point made here.

Thpsguy said:

Not only that but I think being over Realität in the internet could set the wouls back centuries if we have any kind of outage

Oh yeah, I’ve mentioned that before in my doom-and-gloom doomsday messages on AI lol. We’re long overdue for a solar flare big enough to knock out all modern power systems. It could happen at any time and we might - at most - have 24 hours to prepare as best as we can to protect our aging infrastructure to prevent an absolute dark age of society. I mean, I have no idea how to even fix anything on my car without help from YouTube and Google. How would I - a man with two degrees in music - survive in a world without internet? Humankind would survive, but billions of idiots like me would die very quickly.

Thpsguy said:

As for adult content we are moving in the right direction with biometric checks(although there's misinformation here too people saying they can steal your Identity this is false) but what is and isn't allowed is too lenient 

Ooo boy am I on the fence about this one. I wouldn’t outright say that biometric checks stealing your identity is misinformation, since giving any personal information to porn sites is incredibly dangerous. Yeah, the company may be legit and careful with your data, but they are frequent targets for white-knight hackers. I mean, there’s probably tons of hacks we don’t know on those sites, but the ones we do know about (like the Ashley Madison fiasco) have been horribly damning for the (mostly) guys that gave personal details out. However, do I believe biometric checks should be in place for adult sites? Still, on the fence.

Thpsguy said:

Also sites like only fans sure the women making money off them. May feel like they're getting  a steady income but at what cost? The people paying to subscribe have often been noted to have a parasocial attachment to the model. 

Also on the fence about this one. I feel like the sex industry as a whole is mostly negative and is full of possibly horrifying consequences regarding STDs, consent, and trafficking, but I also have seen signs that it is possible to actually enjoy the work as a side gig for people of all genders/identities. I have an Autistic friend who apparently runs an OnlyFans account every once in a while (don’t worry, I’m not using that service, so I haven’t seen her profile or paid for it), but she acts as though she has such a surprisingly positive view of her own body that it is almost like she is just flaunting these images as a fun hobby. Her getting paid for it is just probably a surprising side benefit. That’s just one example of a woman I’ve met that has a different view of sexual content than you would expect from a female. Yeah, parasocial connections are a threat (especially on OnlyFans and camgirl sites I bet), but just like artists should have an opportunity to make money off of their art, adults that see creating sexual content as a skill should also have a chance to make money. That’s my view at least.

Thpsguy said:

The internet in soemways has set up baxk more than its helped us. 

Totally agree. While I believe our current generations may - as a whole - understand the workings of the universe more than any generations prior, we know significantly less about skilled work and survival skills. In a world with no electricity, what will the IT technician do to survive?

Thpsguy said:

I my self lost many years of my youth to being addicted to msn Facebook ect did I have good times on those platforms? Sure but didn't he bad outweigh thr good? Almost definitely

With this and a couple servers of Discord being my sole “social media” outlets and carefully curating what news feeds I watch, I feel overall much more confident and informed than I ever did while addicted to Facebook. Social media in general is a net-negative, and I think most of us - even those addicted to it - would agree with that sentiment.

Thpsguy said:

It's just weird that adult magazines we're always seen as bad and taboo but adult web sites are seen as healthy

Yeah that is odd. Perhaps the real reason is because it is far easier to hide access to adult websites rather than filthy magazines? I remember when my brother died over a decade ago I was bit disgusted when I learned he had a few adult magazines stored away. Had that happened now, I probably would have shrugged and thought “Well, at least we haven’t discovered he had a subscription to a dodgy porn site yet.” That is an odd thing that one is more taboo than the other when they are theoretically the same thing, true.

They do here too, try looking up the ensoulment debate, its been raging for centuries, it can give you an interesting way of debating the whole pro-life/pro-choice thing if you can't avoid it or want to discuss it?

This is to both TheCatWoman and ArchaeC 

I appreciate both perspectives from Wales and N. Ireland. It’s interesting how all three of us appear to agree on the basic issue at hand (of needing better sex education in school), but we each see it approached differently based on our location. That’s immensely interesting to me.

TheCatWoman said:

I don't know where people get the idea that if you don't tell teenagers about sex then they won't do it?

This is 100% the viewpoint of religious institutions in America. And when I say religious groups, I probably should have clarified that I’m primarily thinking of Catholics and evangelicals in this case, but I also imagine that all other major religions that have significant communities here likely have similar values (ex. Jewish and Muslim communities likely also want to limit sex education). But you nailed it here: The pervading belief among this population is that merely mentioning sex in school wills it into existence. Otherwise, there is apparently little to no chance it will happen.

TheCatWoman said:

like how abortion is wrong but capital punishment is OK, the sanctity of life only applies in certain situations

Oh yeah, that is a very backwards situation and why pro-life/pro-choice conversations can get pretty heated over here.

The traditional media has many more guidlines to follow but online echo chambers such as YouTube tiktok and orher social media outlets are filled with our right toxic information such as this political party said this bad thing when the reality is its propergander by a handful of deidcatied opposition voters

Also if plans to make TV online only guidlines can easily be broken as the rules are set out for aurwave transmission allowing for loop holes 

Not only that but I think being over Realität in the internet could set the wouls back centuries if we have any kind of outage 

As for adult content we are moving in the right direction with biometric checks(although there's misinformation here too people saying they can steal your Identity this is false) but what is and isn't allowed is too lenient 

Also sites like only fans sure the women making money off them. May feel like they're getting  a steady income but at what cost? The people paying to subscribe have often been noted to have a parasocial attachment to the model. 

The internet in soemways has set up baxk more than its helped us. 

I my self lost many years of my youth to being addicted to msn Facebook ect did I have good times on those platforms? Sure but didn't he bad outweigh thr good? Almost definitely

It's just weird that adult magazines we're always seen as bad and taboo but adult web sites are seen as healthy.. The internet has normalised things too much because of her easy it is to access thing 

profdanger said:

there are religious types that fear education on safe sex and consent will lead to an explosion of teenage sexual activity

When it comes to religion, Northern Ireland is in a different league to the rest of the UK and to Ireland as a whole. More people here identify as Christians than any other part of the UK. Like most subjects here, school sex education is a divisive. Most of our state schools are divided into Catholic and Protestant schools, although Integrated Schools (for those of any and no religion) are also in some towns and cities. The subject of School Sex Education was in the news a few months ago and one of the political arguments was that too ‘explicit’ Sex Education is harmful because it makes young people unable to tell the difference between moral and immoral behaviour. 

I do agree with you that the right education is important. I don’t think that portrayal of nudity in sex education materials is in itself harmful. Images should serve the purpose of sex education and should portray the ‘right tone’ and message. 

I think the religious types aren't really part of the general conversation here on this side of the pond, I'm sure they go on about it within their own spaces but largely thats not a public one. I think here its wrapped up in the whole debate around online safety rather than specifically sexual safety.

I don't know where people get the idea that if you don't tell teenagers about sex then they won't do it? But then its part of that whole religious things that I really don't understand, like how abortion is wrong but capital punishment is OK, the sanctity of life only applies in certain situations, is there an age when it's OK to start killing people or something?

TheCatWoman said:

So many boys watch strangulation porn that they think half strangling a partner during sex is "normal" and girls don't know they can not consent to it as they're being told its normal too and theres something wrong with them for not wanting it.

Exactly. Yes, we need better education on this for teens of all genders/identities/abilities. However here in the States (likely your side of the ocean, too) there are religious types that fear education on safe sex and consent will lead to an explosion of teenage sexual activity. Unfortunately, I don’t think they realize that there’s always been an explosion of teenage sexual activity, it’s just less safe without the right education.

I don't think its just autistic people who are vulnerable although it does add another layer to being vulnerable, but young people are being way to easily influenced by what they see online. So many boys watch strangulation porn that they think half strangling a partner during sex is "normal" and girls don't know they can not consent to it as they're being told its normal too and theres something wrong with them for not wanting it.

I remember when you chose how to vote from what you were told on TV or by newspapers, or even because thats how people like you always voted, was that really better? I don't think it was, but I also don't think that getting everything from social media's good either. People need to be able to hear all sides and proper debate not rows, stunts and stupidity and Nigel Farage never having been so offended in his life, poor thing must walk around in a constant state of offence!

One of the things I find interesting as an historian, is that people said the same about the introduction of the printing press, printing in the vernacular so that everyone could understand it and didn't need it mediated by educated others, (priests usually) and that so many more people were becoming literate or at least able to read vernacular languages and not Latin which was the previous standard for literacy.

I don't know what the answers are though, recognising a lesson from history isn't the same as knowing what it is or how to apply it

I think a general conversation needs to be had about tech use because autistic people esspiecaly are at risk of explotation and extemestist views and when they research things they are net with echo chambers 

To think people are going to vote and are being influenced by the internet is scary because the echo chambers focus on the bad things good people do which are not that bad but get blown out of proportion and vice versa 

But to bring it back to these apps I gaurnetre peopke research them and people on reddit or what ever will make out they are good but the way I see it they are a gateway to deprivity and worse crimes 

I think they've focussed on teens here because it an easier way in with the tech companies. I agree that there's no good reason for these sort of apps, but here in the UK, we feel held to ransom a bit by big tech and I suspect in much of the rest of Europe and Australia too, tech companies just ignore us, or threaten us with law suits and then go and talk to Trump to tell him to put tariffs on us and other nonsense.

Yeah, but I recently saw a case where a teacher was arrested in US for creating AI generated nudify content of I think it was sixth graders? (Ages around 11 years old?) So it’s not just the teen boys that are using these apps in schools.

Even for adults, there’s no good use of these apps. It’s not like the general intention is for adults to consensually put themselves in these pictures, right?

I think they're being banned here, I saw something on Newsnight about it last week, if not banned for everybody then certainly for teenagers.