Although inevitable, I believe young kids shouldn’t be allowed on the internet unsupervised and need to be taught the proper skills to avoid simple dangers and misinformation out there (teach them to ask you to confirm the “facts” they read online etc.). There are parental locks/firewalls and such you can have at home, but this doesn’t limit their access when out and about (or to a friend’s house). But yea, inevitable. Keep them innocent as long as you can, because ignorance is bliss and you don’t want to burden a kid with the weight of the world’s problems
To be fair, his comment didn’t specify gender. Men can be gold diggers too! I’m male, and i have met a share of absolute gold digging scum who absolutely wouldn’t hesitate to shack up with a strong independent female and let her do ALL of the heavy lifting…
13 years of Catholic school here … it was understood to be a pomegranate, due to the “fecundity” of blood-red seeds within, each edible seed representing a facet of knowledge. Since God interrupted the couple in their “sin”, Adam and Eve never finished off the fruit and thereby never truly learned all of God’s wisdom … which is another reason humans suffer: We know enough to be both a benefit and a burden, to help and hinder.
It doesn’t make sense for it to be any fruit we’ve ever seen. Two fruits – tree of life, and tree of knowledge of good and evil. Man chomps on one of them, and God basically blocks anyone from returning, and drowns the whole thing in a flood. If you believe in this sort of thing, why do you think that would be a species existing today? And if you believe this is just mythology, why believe that ancient Hebrews were like, “Yeah, it’s a pomegranate, now shut up and eat your pomegranate, Billy.” Like, did Stan Lee make Spider-Man… Read more »
Digi
2 years ago
Quite accurate
Guest
2 years ago
No worries, by the time the soul is dead, the brain will be long gone and you don’t fill a thing.
You’ll fill a grave with your body and a tictoc channel with your not-so-great ideas.
nealithi
2 years ago
The last one is funny. But won’t work. We put too much warning on things that harm slowly. Alcohol, drugs, the internet. But then children see people drink and using the internet they get suspicious. So they try it and when it does not instantly smite them like a hot stove does. They believe the adults lied about the risk. This stuff is cool etc etc. The truth must be taught. Alcohol and drugs harm slowly but far more deeply than a little burn. And the internet is much like cities. It has some nice safe places. And some places… Read more »
I agree with your sentiment and intended message here. However, I also felt the need to politely call something out that is in your message but probably wasn’t intended. People live in those dangerous neighborhoods and need to learn this lesson too. Classifying neighborhoods as ‘dangerous’ rather than ‘under-supported’ will paint perspectives that create further division. I believe associating the internet back to people would’ve been a better analogy to continue with. Some people will want to trick you, trap you, use you for their own gain and will not care one iota for your feelings, personal safety or welfare.… Read more »
I understand the intent of your point. But I think I was accurate. Not all under supported neighborhoods are dangerous and not all adequately supported ones are safe. And even then danger can be very relative.
I suppose the problem with the statement is the broad brush effect. Neighborhoods like people vary greatly.
Pulse
2 years ago
now now, you can always toss them to youtube kids. it is for kids right?
Snowfae
2 years ago
Now see, I had an ace up my sleeve. I worked for Walmart in the early 2000s during high school. I don’t have a soul to erode anymore! 8D
Kenju
2 years ago
After the first two, I was honestly expecting to see an EA game for the third lol
FITCamaro
2 years ago
Thankful to have a gas stove. I’d rather my kid make the mistake of touching flame than super hot metal.
I wasn’t strictly speaking a kid back then, more like a teenager. I was going to have some tea, so I put the kettle on. Upon doing so I waltzed right out of the kitchen and, of course, I forgot about it (playing video games takes a lot of attention, as it so happens). Now, that kettle wasn’t an electric one, it couldn’t turn itself off automatically when the time is right. It was an old kettle whose whistle was broken. Eventually I did remember that the kettle was on (the first “oh shit” moment of that memorable day) and that it had been on for a while. I flew to the kitchen and turned the stove off. As you might expect, there wasn’t much actual water left in the kettle by that point – plenty of vapor, though. I went to pour what was left of the water out of the kettle and into the sink.
Long story short, I learned two valuable lessons that day:
1) If you put something on the stove – YOU STAY RIGHT THERE and watch the damn thing;
2) Steam can burn your skin about as effectively as any fire if the temperature is high enough (the second “oh shit” moment).
To this day (my 30s are looming menacingly right in front of me) I follow that first lesson vehemently: if the stove is on – I’m in the kitchen; if I’m out – stove is not on.
As for the second lesson, I’m not testing physical properties of hot gases, especially not on my own skin, thank you.
Oh 100%. I owe a career I love to the internet. However nearly 2 decades working online has shown me basically all of the worst humanity has to offer. And not only that, how quickly it can sneak up on you. Reading a discussion about a video games and *Bam* suddenly there’s some racism for you, no warning. While I’m relatively desensitized to it all at this point, I’m still aware of how vigilant I need to be for things as simple as letting my kiddo watch Minecraft tutorial videos, because the content is not always guaranteed, and it’s super… Read more »
I heard recently, and admittedly I did no further research into it but, with the advent of various social media algorithms it now only takes about 6 weeks to radicalise someone. Now this could be terrorism, but it could also be any political belief, or even product affiliation. Democrat, republican, green, vegan, that VPN all the videos you watch are sponsored by, whatever. So it’s not just trying to avoid the bad stuff but also trying to avoid only seeing 1 type of stuff. The internet it would seem is like food intake We need a good balanced diet of… Read more »
Nah, that’s a real thing. I’m sure “six weeks” isn’t a very scientific term, but it’s well-known that the Internet’s algorithms (and Google in particular) match you up with content that it thinks you like, and pulls you away from content you don’t. Tame when it comes to things like boating and knitting and softball. Downright manipulative when it comes to things like news and political opinion – especially as the rabbit holes go pretty deep there.
I actually encountered that issue before. I am politically quite left-leaning (Central European left, not Democrats), but I am also quite aware of the issues in left-wing politics. So one day a few years ago a came across the Rubin Report. In almost all of his videos he talks about how he was hard left but then got thinking deeper. So the algorithm showed me a few videos that were rather in line with my thinking. So for example the ugly side of #metoo or how many fathers are struggling hard to see their kids after a divorce. So I… Read more »
There is a reason our kids aren’t allowed to have social media, that of our five children only the 16 1/2 old has a phone, that just about everything on the internet is blocked at the router, etc. We are teaching our kids about the internet the same we do about teaching them money. When they are very young they get no money of their own. It’s all mine. Any money that Grandma or whoever sends for birthday/Christmas becomes mine. As they get older I slowly let them have a little bit of money that they can spend basically how/when… Read more »
I kind of read that as “I collect the money and set it aside for them, and then dole it out for them to use as they get older/learn to manage money.” At least I hope that’s the case 🙂
I mean, if my kids get $100 from relatives for their birthday, I “give” them $20 of it so they can pick out something they want, and I “take” the other $80 and invest it in their respective college savings plan.
I found that chores for allowance was a good means of establishing a work ethic connected to income at an earlier age. My father would have me and my brother do stuff like laundry, oiling wooden furnishings, vacuuming, etc, in exchange for an allowance.
I sincerely hope that by “Any money that Grandma or whoever sends for birthday/Christmas becomes mine” you actually mean “Any money that Grandma or whoever sends for birthday/Christmas goes into a savings account for their future use”
If you’re just straight up stealing their money, spending it on yourself and they never see it again, you really suck.
As others here have said I really hope you are just saving it for them. Here in Germany a kid can do what they want with their allowance as long as its legal for their age. I think not giving your kid access until 16 years is dangerous for the same reason not allowing them alcohol until 21 is harmful. They need to make mistakes and still have you there to help them. If they are too old they won’t. Also they’ll go behind your back anyway.
a slight bit of coincidence that i was that old when i first found your comics and been reading them ever since. quite a few went over my head having no experience with the subjects, but i liked them all the same.
Yeah my son loves to watch Youtube videos of LEGO builds. We try to tell him we don’t want him just watching anything on there. Try to play the balance between the two.
When it comes to parental controls, Youtube and most of these other streaming platforms due a miserable job. They’ll ban OG Duck Tales from child accounts on Disney+, but won’t let me flag a show/movie as something I don’t want my kid watching.
And funny how life changes you. 😉
Hydrohead
2 years ago
Dating through his early 20s will cause far worse damage to his soul.
When I was little, my mom told me that touching a hot cookie tray she made quesadillas on would burn me. I didn’t believe her, cause she used the same cookie tray to make cookies the night before. Let’s just say I learned what “hot” was the practical way.
I’m glad I was the kind that was like “okay I won’t do that thing”… for the most part. There was *one* really cute and clearly soft little cactus.
And I got dozens of tiny not particularly soft spines in the tip of my finger.
Brian
2 years ago
So true
The Schaef
2 years ago
Ah, the Internet: the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems.
raven0ak
2 years ago
long as you steer clear from cancerous platforms like twitter, facebok,reddit,instagram etc some platforms, your soul wont erode badly
Eldest Gruff
2 years ago
“Oh yes, you had,” said Gandalf. “You knew you were behaving wrongly and foolishly; and you told yourself so, though you did not listen…But if I had spoken sooner, it would not have lessened your desire, or made it easier to resist. On the contrary! No, the burned hand teaches best. After that advice about fire goes to the heart.”
Coel
2 years ago
He’ll find a little bit of everything, all of the time.
BPC
2 years ago
Welcome to the internet, have a look around…
(If this isn’t inspired by Bo Burnham, GO WATCH INSIDE, it’s INCREDIBLE 😀 )
24
It is inevitable.
You sound like a random citizen on Dwarf Fortress.
aren’t we all, though
Although inevitable, I believe young kids shouldn’t be allowed on the internet unsupervised and need to be taught the proper skills to avoid simple dangers and misinformation out there (teach them to ask you to confirm the “facts” they read online etc.). There are parental locks/firewalls and such you can have at home, but this doesn’t limit their access when out and about (or to a friend’s house). But yea, inevitable. Keep them innocent as long as you can, because ignorance is bliss and you don’t want to burden a kid with the weight of the world’s problems
I agree. I also think that “The History Teacher” by Billy Collins is, in my opinion, an evermore relevant poem. It’s just balance, I guess
Might be a good idea, but first we need to figure out how to teach the parents.
Add Gold Diggers
“Don’t touch, you’ll go broke!”
Thank you Dodgy, for consistently being an example of why the internet is terrible with your misogynistic comments 🙂
To be fair, his comment didn’t specify gender. Men can be gold diggers too! I’m male, and i have met a share of absolute gold digging scum who absolutely wouldn’t hesitate to shack up with a strong independent female and let her do ALL of the heavy lifting…
“Independent” types would be tricky to bait into this trap.
But you’re the one who assumed he was talking about women…
one of us, one of us
Hey, my soul is just fine thank you very much *tries to ignore rotten soul smell*
If “the book” was being written anew today, it wouldn’t be an apple to tempt Adam with, it would be the wifi password.
Instead of apple it would be Apple products…..
Went straight from “Knowledge of Good and Evil” to “Deliciously Evil.”
Still see it as an Apple, just the new electronic ones
There’s a reason there’s a bite taken out of the Apple logo.
Technically it was never an apple to begin with. It’s an unspecified fruit. Probably a peach, since China has a similar story with a peach tree.
I read an article about it. It was probably a fig or a date in the mind of the writers.
It’s always been a metaphor for something that causes big heads that can’t pass a small opening painlessly.
13 years of Catholic school here … it was understood to be a pomegranate, due to the “fecundity” of blood-red seeds within, each edible seed representing a facet of knowledge. Since God interrupted the couple in their “sin”, Adam and Eve never finished off the fruit and thereby never truly learned all of God’s wisdom … which is another reason humans suffer: We know enough to be both a benefit and a burden, to help and hinder.
I heard pomegranate. I sometimes think biblical scholars just make it up.
It doesn’t make sense for it to be any fruit we’ve ever seen. Two fruits – tree of life, and tree of knowledge of good and evil. Man chomps on one of them, and God basically blocks anyone from returning, and drowns the whole thing in a flood. If you believe in this sort of thing, why do you think that would be a species existing today? And if you believe this is just mythology, why believe that ancient Hebrews were like, “Yeah, it’s a pomegranate, now shut up and eat your pomegranate, Billy.” Like, did Stan Lee make Spider-Man… Read more »
Quite accurate
No worries, by the time the soul is dead, the brain will be long gone and you don’t fill a thing.
You’ll fill a grave with your body and a tictoc channel with your not-so-great ideas.
The last one is funny. But won’t work. We put too much warning on things that harm slowly. Alcohol, drugs, the internet. But then children see people drink and using the internet they get suspicious. So they try it and when it does not instantly smite them like a hot stove does. They believe the adults lied about the risk. This stuff is cool etc etc. The truth must be taught. Alcohol and drugs harm slowly but far more deeply than a little burn. And the internet is much like cities. It has some nice safe places. And some places… Read more »
one trip to the library and spotting some dude in just his underwear using the public computers might end any interest in the internet.
I agree with your sentiment and intended message here. However, I also felt the need to politely call something out that is in your message but probably wasn’t intended. People live in those dangerous neighborhoods and need to learn this lesson too. Classifying neighborhoods as ‘dangerous’ rather than ‘under-supported’ will paint perspectives that create further division. I believe associating the internet back to people would’ve been a better analogy to continue with. Some people will want to trick you, trap you, use you for their own gain and will not care one iota for your feelings, personal safety or welfare.… Read more »
I understand the intent of your point. But I think I was accurate. Not all under supported neighborhoods are dangerous and not all adequately supported ones are safe. And even then danger can be very relative.
I suppose the problem with the statement is the broad brush effect. Neighborhoods like people vary greatly.
now now, you can always toss them to youtube kids. it is for kids right?
Now see, I had an ace up my sleeve. I worked for Walmart in the early 2000s during high school. I don’t have a soul to erode anymore! 8D
After the first two, I was honestly expecting to see an EA game for the third lol
Thankful to have a gas stove. I’d rather my kid make the mistake of touching flame than super hot metal.
I hope it’s one of those that don’t release gas without a flame.
Wanna hear a story about a hot stove?
Long story short, I learned two valuable lessons that day:
1) If you put something on the stove – YOU STAY RIGHT THERE and watch the damn thing;
2) Steam can burn your skin about as effectively as any fire if the temperature is high enough (the second “oh shit” moment).
To this day (my 30s are looming menacingly right in front of me) I follow that first lesson vehemently: if the stove is on – I’m in the kitchen; if I’m out – stove is not on.
As for the second lesson, I’m not testing physical properties of hot gases, especially not on my own skin, thank you.
Keep that vigilance. My poor mother sometimes forgets to turn the stove off then goes to bed. I don’t tell her how often I check behind her.
While I feel like you’ll get no argument, the irony is your living is made there. 😉
Oh 100%. I owe a career I love to the internet. However nearly 2 decades working online has shown me basically all of the worst humanity has to offer. And not only that, how quickly it can sneak up on you. Reading a discussion about a video games and *Bam* suddenly there’s some racism for you, no warning. While I’m relatively desensitized to it all at this point, I’m still aware of how vigilant I need to be for things as simple as letting my kiddo watch Minecraft tutorial videos, because the content is not always guaranteed, and it’s super… Read more »
I heard recently, and admittedly I did no further research into it but, with the advent of various social media algorithms it now only takes about 6 weeks to radicalise someone. Now this could be terrorism, but it could also be any political belief, or even product affiliation. Democrat, republican, green, vegan, that VPN all the videos you watch are sponsored by, whatever. So it’s not just trying to avoid the bad stuff but also trying to avoid only seeing 1 type of stuff. The internet it would seem is like food intake We need a good balanced diet of… Read more »
Nah, that’s a real thing. I’m sure “six weeks” isn’t a very scientific term, but it’s well-known that the Internet’s algorithms (and Google in particular) match you up with content that it thinks you like, and pulls you away from content you don’t. Tame when it comes to things like boating and knitting and softball. Downright manipulative when it comes to things like news and political opinion – especially as the rabbit holes go pretty deep there.
I actually encountered that issue before. I am politically quite left-leaning (Central European left, not Democrats), but I am also quite aware of the issues in left-wing politics. So one day a few years ago a came across the Rubin Report. In almost all of his videos he talks about how he was hard left but then got thinking deeper. So the algorithm showed me a few videos that were rather in line with my thinking. So for example the ugly side of #metoo or how many fathers are struggling hard to see their kids after a divorce. So I… Read more »
There is a reason our kids aren’t allowed to have social media, that of our five children only the 16 1/2 old has a phone, that just about everything on the internet is blocked at the router, etc. We are teaching our kids about the internet the same we do about teaching them money. When they are very young they get no money of their own. It’s all mine. Any money that Grandma or whoever sends for birthday/Christmas becomes mine. As they get older I slowly let them have a little bit of money that they can spend basically how/when… Read more »
I do hope that if Grandma gifts your child $30 on their birthday, you then take “your” $30 to spend it on a present for your child.
I kind of read that as “I collect the money and set it aside for them, and then dole it out for them to use as they get older/learn to manage money.” At least I hope that’s the case 🙂
I mean, if my kids get $100 from relatives for their birthday, I “give” them $20 of it so they can pick out something they want, and I “take” the other $80 and invest it in their respective college savings plan.
I found that chores for allowance was a good means of establishing a work ethic connected to income at an earlier age. My father would have me and my brother do stuff like laundry, oiling wooden furnishings, vacuuming, etc, in exchange for an allowance.
I sincerely hope that by “Any money that Grandma or whoever sends for birthday/Christmas becomes mine” you actually mean “Any money that Grandma or whoever sends for birthday/Christmas goes into a savings account for their future use”
If you’re just straight up stealing their money, spending it on yourself and they never see it again, you really suck.
As others here have said I really hope you are just saving it for them. Here in Germany a kid can do what they want with their allowance as long as its legal for their age. I think not giving your kid access until 16 years is dangerous for the same reason not allowing them alcohol until 21 is harmful. They need to make mistakes and still have you there to help them. If they are too old they won’t. Also they’ll go behind your back anyway.
a slight bit of coincidence that i was that old when i first found your comics and been reading them ever since. quite a few went over my head having no experience with the subjects, but i liked them all the same.
Yeah my son loves to watch Youtube videos of LEGO builds. We try to tell him we don’t want him just watching anything on there. Try to play the balance between the two.
When it comes to parental controls, Youtube and most of these other streaming platforms due a miserable job. They’ll ban OG Duck Tales from child accounts on Disney+, but won’t let me flag a show/movie as something I don’t want my kid watching.
And funny how life changes you. 😉
Dating through his early 20s will cause far worse damage to his soul.
Glad I’ve been married 25 years. Dating. Eww.
When I was little, my mom told me that touching a hot cookie tray she made quesadillas on would burn me. I didn’t believe her, cause she used the same cookie tray to make cookies the night before. Let’s just say I learned what “hot” was the practical way.
I’m glad I was the kind that was like “okay I won’t do that thing”… for the most part. There was *one* really cute and clearly soft little cactus.
And I got dozens of tiny not particularly soft spines in the tip of my finger.
So true
Ah, the Internet: the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems.
long as you steer clear from cancerous platforms like twitter, facebok,reddit,instagram etc some platforms, your soul wont erode badly
“Oh yes, you had,” said Gandalf. “You knew you were behaving wrongly and foolishly; and you told yourself so, though you did not listen…But if I had spoken sooner, it would not have lessened your desire, or made it easier to resist. On the contrary! No, the burned hand teaches best. After that advice about fire goes to the heart.”
He’ll find a little bit of everything, all of the time.
Welcome to the internet, have a look around…
(If this isn’t inspired by Bo Burnham, GO WATCH INSIDE, it’s INCREDIBLE 😀 )
What is a soul?
Seriously.