I cannot understand the online age verification crap. You need a licence to buy alcohol, but once it’s in your house your kid can drink it. If their so worried just make it so u have to be 18 to buy a computer. This makes it so a age check was in place to get online, yet no identity is tied to the services. Then anybody underage online is only doing so because an adult facilitated it (which is basically currently the case). Shit I had to show id to get my phone contract, and to get my internet so an age verification check was in place for all these kids smart phones and wifi access that their PARENTS provided and now the parents are mad they have access to adult content??? This is like being mad that your kid under age drank when you bought them liquor. The fuck did they think would happen? The real reason they want this stuff to go in place is to harvest more info for private gain.

I have a POS HP stream kicking around. Celeron and 2gb ram on it. It runs well with antix, I have used lxqt and xfce on it and been able to Google things and browse articles on the web, write word docs smoothly. I put kde plasma on it struggles now. Really it’s time to retire that thing, but I like to occasionally distro hop on it and see what will run on that bunk hardware. So far antiX has been by far snappiest on that laptop, but it’s not as pretty as KDE :c

I literally started reading 1984 because of the memes and constant references to it last few years lol. Have not heart of grapes of wrath will have to check that one out next! Thanks for the book recccomendation!

That’s rough man. Wise woman once told me tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are, probably just as well to loose some of that crowd. Probably the same folk that before phones would be regulars at the same bar 7 days a week, and only befriended bar mates.

Insane how much literature from over 50 years ago had so much foresight. Just started 1981 and it is eerie to say the least!

I’m trying 🤞 I came to the realization a couple years ago that I was in my phone too much. Memory not what it was, focus lost. It’s an uphill battle but I have been getting further away from it every day. Focus, like reading, takes practice. A lot of people out there are “self diagnosing” ADHD these days because they can’t do anything without watching reels while doing it and their focus is lost. Not trying to demean any mental health issues, just know the phone thing will lead to mental problems! If you smoke crack every day you WILL get addicted and it will impact your health. Phone is no different, nobody is immune no matter how strong willed you think you are.

The issue affects us all, even if you are not a phone addict!

Have u ever bought a used car? Market place is kind of the only way to go, nevermind if you want to sell stuff. I REALLY miss craigslist.

Problem is discipline. Reach for a book instead of doom scrolling. Get something done on the house instead of reading X shitposts. The way most people use phones is a sick addiction that needs treatment, and nobody intervenes. I mean people can’t look in front of their 2 ton steel cage while they hum down the road at 80mph without checking if some random twat added to their snap story lol.

I’ve always done my part. Never understood twitter in the first place!

Ouf my subaru + jeep + dual sport and cruiser combined cost less than the cheapest POS GM ev used 🫪 i need AWD + snow tires to make it up the mountain passes here in the winter, and when it’s more than free ing out I take the bike every day which gets 60+ mpg. I can’t wait for batteries to get lighter and EV bikes to become more popular, I would love to commute to work every day on an electric motorcycle. I have an old naked street bike I blew the transmission out of at 86k miles, I keep thinking about gutting the gas tank and pulling the drivetrain and electrifying it but alas time and money do not yet permit…

I have lived many places in the US (rural, suburb, city) and have been able to bike in all of them. There’s roads in every civilized country, the idea u can’t bike in 99% of USA I manufactured by nanny culture. We gathererd at old mills, parks, friends houses. Kids has social lives before the internet so your argument is pretty moot. Not saying lock them up with no Internet but letting them have unrestricted access will lead to poor outcomes.

Just because I don’t plan on having kids doesn’t mean I don’t know a think about raising them, I had to help raise my little siblings. I do care to some extent as this is the future of humanity lol, just can’t afford to have a kid and no real desire for it anyhow. Could change I suppose.

Amen. Thankfully I don’t plan on having kids because that seems like a tough call to make!

Yea and plenty of kids shit talked me for being a weirdo before discord was around what do u expect from crotch goblins. But I agree that unfortunately our info is more and more being harvested and sold, and their buying the right to do it through our government. It’s sick.

When I was a kid I got to use the family PC in the living room. While my peers that got on smartphones early started brain rotting on Facebook I was on my bicycle with my best buds and curfew of when the street lights come on. Kids can live without smart phones, and definatley don’t need unmonitored access to the internet. Doesn’t take parental controls, they simply don’t need the internet in private. Their too young and curious to be trusted on it for their own good.

What is a 13 year old missing out on by not having constant unmonitored access to the internet? They can go ride a bike or something. Maybe see their friends in real life instead of chatting with 30 year old maga predators on the internet and considering it “socializing”.

For real. This is like saying all underage drinking is the alcohol companies fault rather than the parents that leave their alcohol easily accessible to their kids, basically providing it for them. Underage kids say 16 or under should absolutely not have unmonitored access to the internet, and that is solely on the parents to enforce. You don’t have to buy your kid a smart phone or tablet or computer. When you do your providing then access to the internet and hoping they make the right call.

Humanity is a self - resolving virus on this planet. Give it time and we’ll all be dead due to our own stupidity and nature will get back to where it should be.

Do you really think they will out their own astroturfing interests? They will only tell u who is a bit if they didn’t want them in the site, not if they paid to be there !