During the 2010s, Gen Z had access to online spaces designed for them, such as Club Penguin or MovieStarPlanet, as well as numerous websites with safe spaces that monitored language and actions.
But among these places, in early spaces of the internet, they discovered the harms of unrestricted internet access, simply due to a lack of research.
However, today, children are subjected to bullying and harmful jokes from people double their age on gaming sites originally made for children and various social media platforms.
A simple search on TikTok will show dozens of videos of adults playing on the popular platform Roblox and telling children to end their lives.
The term “KYS” (kill yourself), among other phrases that are considered dark humor, that have been popularized online.
With the release of Roblox’s voice chat, videos of adults cursing at children flooded in, becoming so much of a problem that it became grounds for temporary or permanent banning.
The National Library of Medicine released an article titled “Cyberbullying in Children and Youth: Implications for Health and Clinical Practice,” which details how cyberbullying has unique qualities that “can both magnify the damage caused and make it more difficult to detect.”
The article goes on to explain that anonymity makes it difficult to put an end to the bullying.
While the article was published in 2016, with the rapid rise of AI, children are more at risk online than ever.
This past January, CBS News reported that the number of AI materials related to child sexual abuse reached a record high in 2025.
“Analysts from the U.K.-based group the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) detected a record 3,440 AI videos of child sexual abuse last year, up from just 13 videos the year prior, a 26,362% increase,” CBS reports.
As a result, there are active fights for child online safety. The Associated Press reported this April that Meta was considering completely shutting down their social media in New Mexico after the state called for more child safety measures.
Changes suggested included improving age verification and adding default privacy settings to help prevent child sexual exploitation. Yet in order not to have to enforce these terms, Meta would make their platform unavailable in the state.
Another problem includes children conforming to the trends of social media even if it’s not appropriate for their age.
TikTok, which has a minimum age requirement of 13, is filled with young children posting “get ready with me” videos, which show them putting on skincare that is not suitable for their young skin.
Children and Screens reported that influencers have a great impact on young, impressionable children. They are not immune to consumerism and if they’re scrolling on TikTok, they are subjected to thousands of videos of influencers promoting products.
It’s natural for children to seek community and desire to be a part of something as they get older. As a result, it’s very easy for them to follow these trends for acceptance.
As a parent, it’s important to keep tabs on what your child is viewing online and have conversations with them about why certain things may not be a good idea.
However, we ultimately cannot control what individuals do, nor can we keep all children offline. What we can do is call for better restrictions online.
Gen Z knows what it’s like to have safe spaces and dangerous caveats on the internet and because of this, should be able to speak up about safer alternatives.
In 2015, YouTube Kids was launched as a safer, more family-friendly alternative to YouTube. Comments on videos labelled as being for children were disabled as well.
By speaking out about the experiences of early unrestricted internet access, there should be a push for apps to follow suit or at least create stricter age verification.
The Associated Press reported that outside of the US, other countries such as Brazil, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Spain, France and Denmark have introduced some form of legislation to protect children online. This is a global fight.
LBCC’s Gen Z demographic, many having grown up with unrestricted internet access from a young age, understand what it can do to you and what situations a child can be put at risk in. It’s important to speak up about these dangers and protect children from these experiences.
