Listen, I'm far from the first person to point this out, but it's extremely funny that Boomers used to warn younger Gen X and Millenials, the first age group to be extremely savvy with the Internet, about its dangers.

And then when the Internet became more easily usable by anyone (which is a good thing, don't get me wrong), they fell for every single scam, manipulation and scare tactic that exists.

What is not talked about as much is that the "scary Internet" rhteroric was, I believe, partially rooted in buying into the 80s "stranger danger" propaganda that BOOMERS THEMSELVES INVENTED and whose purpose was to isolate kids from outside influences in an attempt to make them even more controllable by their parents.

After all, it's not a problem if Mom or Dad does something horrible to a child. /s

And also as part of the push to make cities much more car-centric, which is a change that seems to be invisible to a lot of older Americans. Can't have kids play outside if there's no way to walk around without crossing a busy street!

Also, the Internet was famously a place where teenagers could discover themselves, and 90s and 00s were a big step in LGBT+ getting our own, loud voice, and you can't tell me "my kid can talk to strangers who will actually support them and I can't read their private correspondence because I'm shit at computers" wasn't a factor.

Yes, everything is political. Especially the Internet.