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Introducing Messenger Kids

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Re: Introducing Messenger Kids

#3
> There are no ads in Messenger Kids and your child’s information isn’t used for ads.

I do wonder what quantity of data Facebook will collect on child users of this service though, and how that could be used. I’m not too well versed in COPPA outside of account creation restrictions, but I would hope that it has provisions for data collection on children.

Re: Introducing Messenger Kids

#5
fuck this. i'm sorry i know this isn't language appropriate to hn but fuck this.

does anyone believe this is really for the betterment of any child's life? say anything you want about how children use messenger apps now and this just improves that experience for them but accommodations aside that's basically the same excuse that drug dealers use - "they're going to get it from somewhere so they might as well get it from me". we all know this is just another vehicle for ads (their promises notwithstanding) and we all know that fb/social media has pernicious effects on psychology, let alone child psychology.

i don't live in a cabin in the woods and i'm not amish and i'm not a luddite (i consume technology more or less like everyone else) but yet still i challenge someone to show me the intrinsic value (as opposed to circumstantial to the fact that fb/social media inundates us).

Re: Introducing Messenger Kids

#6
TLDR, Facebook wants your children to connect to you via a chat app.

I'm more than saddened to see that among the tech giants, they are encouraging _children_ to just use face filters and video chatting, rather than encouraging them to go outside and interact with friends in person. Why does an app made specifically for children and families need filters at all? It doesn't really matter that they are not putting in ads in this app. It is still an app and it is still imprinting children to accept artificial, screen-based relationships as equal to real, in-person conversations with your family.

Facebook is transforming the most important relationships in your life to a product. Commericalized.

Re: Introducing Messenger Kids

#8
Another brick in the walled garden of the Facebook internet of the future.

Now even kids below the age of 13 will have a Facebook account, setup by their parents who are already on Facebook anyway and enticed by exactly what they want to hear ("More Fun For Kids, More Control For Parents") thanks to the marketing team.

Re: Introducing Messenger Kids

#10

fuck this. i'm sorry i know this isn't language appropriate to hn but fuck this. does anyone believe this is really for the betterment of any child's life? say anything you want about how children use messenger apps now and this just improves that experience for them but accommodations aside that's basically the same excuse that drug dealers use - "they're going to get it from somewhere so they might as well get it f…

As long as it pacifies children and makes it easier for parents that's what matters. These days whether or not it is good for the child is irrelevant.
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