In a now-viral video, a former iPad kid shared her experience with unrestricted display time and emphasised the importance of internet safety.

Content warning: This article mentions sexual abuse of a minor.

All folks deserve time for themselves, however you might want to to manner childcare responsibly. If you are depending on an iPad to entertain your little ones, suppose once more — this might lead to several unforeseen consequences, reminiscent of publicity to probably harmful websites or apps.

Take it from TikTok writer Sophie Puchulu (@squishiesophie2), a self-proclaimed former iPad kid who shared her personal experience growing up with unrestricted display time. It's slightly heartbreaking, however Sophie tells her story with the intent of encouraging parents and fellow youngsters to adhere to internet protection guidelines.

A former iPad kid steered oldsters and youngsters to practice internet safety pointers.

In the now-viral video, posted on Nov. 11, 2023, Sophie printed that she was once exposed to grownup content at an overly younger age (8 years old, to be actual) as a result of she grew up with "unregulated internet access."

"I played Bubble Box when I was a kid, which is a very popular gaming website. When I was 8 years old, I got a pop-up ad for adult videos, and I clicked on it as an 8-year-old, and I saw all of that stuff," she stated. "Then, when I was 11, there was this anonymous app where you [could] post things ... so I posted some things, and adult men would message me, and then I would send inappropriate pictures back to them. At the time, I had no idea that was weird."

Sophie endured, "I became like a public figure/influencer when I was 13, and my parents had no idea. I kept that a secret for like a whole year. The whole time when I was a teenager, I was always talking to adult men because they gave me attention. But I was also never taught internet safety, not even in school."

In recounting her experience, Sophie published that her parents never supervised her iPad utilization. When questioned about this decision, they expressed confidence in her talent to navigate the internet responsibly and steer clear of potentially perilous online territories.

"That obviously did not work," she added, disclosing that intimate footage from when she was Sixteen years previous were leaked at the internet. "And now this generation that's growing up with all this screen time, not only is it damaging their brains, but they can get exposed to all of this stuff."

Sophie added, "If you're a parent, you need to be checking your kids' phones. It doesn't matter how much you trust them. ... They're going to be mad at you, but you need to teach them, 'If you don't want me as a parent to see it, then you shouldn't be doing it.'"

"I just wanted to use all the attention I'm getting from the recent Paper Star videos to talk about this because it's so important," she concluded. "If you're a parent and if you're a minor, please take this seriously because I didn't."

TikTok commended Sophie for selling awareness about internet safety.

At the time of writing, Sophie's video has accrued over 4.4 million perspectives and counting. The viral clip has also won greater than 8,seven-hundred feedback from fellow TikTokers who praised Sophie for the usage of her platform to share an important message about internet safety.

"Came for the paper stars, stayed for the wise young woman giving solid parenting advice," one person stated.

A 2d TikTok consumer agreed, writing, "I was amazed by your paper stars, but now I'm even more amazed by your maturity. Thank you for sharing this message!"

"As a new parent, I appreciate you using your platform to post this," a 3rd TikToker commented. "I'm always looking for ways I can be aware of her safety [and] I'm grateful to you."

Another fellow mother or father wrote, "I'm a mom and I needed this so much. I'm so sorry you didn’t have an adult to teach you, baby, I hope you're healing."

"I'm a baby millennial and was raised with unlimited access when I was a young teen," somebody else responded. "My parents knew NOTHING and that was the scariest part. Stay safe."

"This is so relatable," any other person answered prior to shockingly revealing that they had been on social media at a tender age and "grew up with zero regulation/supervision on the internet and had multiple online relations."

"I made some bad mistakes as a teen online and man, I look back, and it's scary that even happened, and it could have been a lot worse," shared every other TikTok person.

What do you think? Will you observe your children' display time from now on?

Report online or in-person sexual abuse of a child or teen by means of calling the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453 or visiting childhelp.org. Learn more concerning the warning signs of child abuse at RAINN.org.

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