Even More Reasons to Keep Your Kids Off the Internet
Perverts and lawsuits and bullying, oh my
The longer I’m online, the more I think it might be time to shut the entire internet down and start over. We tried. It was fun for a little bit. But it didn’t take long for the worst people in the world to figure out how to use it in the worst possible ways, and for even good intentions to result in harm.
The latest reason the internet was a bad idea is this report from NBC news last week. Investigators found that image-sharing site Pinterest was, in addition to being a graveyard of wedding inspo boards involving mason jars and chalkboards, playing host to adult men who were using the website to bank photos of little girls under such un-subtle board names as “Hot.” The website’s algorithm “made this easy.” From the report:
Over a one-month period, NBC News created a Pinterest account and reviewed hundreds of girls’ Pinterest accounts as well as their followers’ pages, many of whom appeared to be men. (The majority of the girls’ profiles were algorithmically surfaced by Pinterest itself during the course of the reporting.) The review showed that the site’s recommendation engine serves up photos and videos of visibly underage girls, including toddlers, in large quantities to a user seeking out this type of imagery. The children are typically seen bending over, doing the splits, sticking their tongues out and dancing in their bedrooms while dressed in outfits like pajama shorts, bathing suits and leotards.
Annnnd…. Time to burn the internet down.