I’ve always thought a significant problem isn’t Telegram.. or social media in general but naivety of parents with respect to kids on the internet. Even when I used CompuServe (paid online service) kids would use their parents accounts and of course being a pay service we always thought it was at least young adults we were interacting with. I had to explain to someone who let their 9 year old use their account (this 9 year old was being incredibly rude under the guise of being an adult) that if you don’t let your child unsupervised on the streets of downtown Manhattan why do you let them onto the internet (in this case online services). It can be just as dangerous….

I don’t think that it sunk in with that parent. I’m sure most think it’s “words on a screen”. It can be far more than that to predators. Parents need to NOT let their kids online.. not FB, TwitX, instagram etc. (and by NO means mastodon). I had a predator try to go after my own daughter. Now that she’s grown she’s like “OMG I’m glad you intervened and lost your shit like that!”

Centralized social media is like a drug because it’s so easy to get to. And kids if they have a mental or emotional “hole” in them they’re trying to fill for whatever reason - being acceptance or attention or whatever - social media is the easiest way for them to fill it. Because its all right there in the palm their hands.