I also had unsupervised internet as a kid in the 2000s, but the internet is a very different place now with social media, algorithmic feeds, and content that has been carefully designed by bad actors to be as addictive and manipulative as possible. AI is surely not helping so far. I think it must be very difficult to grow up immersed in that environment.

If in a few more years, “video games” evolve into hyper realistic VR worlds with LLM-powered NPCs that act like real people, also designed to maximize engagement, we might need to revisit the risks of exposing kids to that as well.