Say you were a guardian or parent and get to decide when a child can get a phone or use a computer and get internet with it. If you wish you can also install software and change router settings to what you see fit.
Some parents decide to forbid the internet completely, others are more relaxed. Some go the helicopter route, and some do not care whatsoever what their kid does online.
What is your policy on letting a child use the internet?
“children communicating to others that are not their parents is bad and we should generally have rules against it”
“dude WHAT”
children communicating to others,
that are not their parents** ESPECIALLY ANONYMOUS\PSEUDONYMOUS STRANGERS, WITHOUT THEIR PARENT’S GUIDANCE** is bad and we should generally have rules against it.FTFY
There are three groups who seek out kids online: companies who want to do bad things to them, adults who want to do bad things to them, (or are just weird, so probably not good role models at least, even if they might not be technically predatory) and other kids. Given the first two are big and malign, and the third can be accessed by going to school, an extracurricular activity, or through means that connect through but are distinct from access to the open internet, it’s a bad idea to let kids have open access to the awfulness of the modern web.
A small number of kids, in a small number of cases, might benefit from access to the internet in the same way a small number of kids, in a small set of circumstances, may benefit from antibiotics, but we don’t put bottles of penicillin into kids’ pockets and blithely trust them to use them wisely.
Quite simply, if you believe kids are capable of making wise decisions regarding their online actions and interactions without parental guidance, you are granting them the autonomy and authority to offer informed consent. Is that really something you are comfortable with?