I had internet access from a very young age. When i was 5 or 6, I got my first console, that being the Wii. At the time I lived with my not so great father on a farm far away from home, and loved drowning everything out with my silly little games. Back then, things were mostly innocent, as I didn't know how to browse the web.
When I moved back in with my mom, I was lucky enough to get to upgrade my Wii to the XBox360 (thanks to the random acts of Christmas subreddit). I was taught pretty well about internet safety in my opinion, but sometimes I think I may have been taught to be a little too afraid. I started out just playing Minecraft with a few internet friends, whom I was very cautious of at first. I also used my console for streaming Netflix, and eventually my interest peaked towards Youtube.
I was terrified to watch my first Youtube video. I had permission to, but I knew there were scary things on the internet and I didn't know how to filter it out yet. I was lucky with my first choice though, and started watching Good Mythical Morning. They were a formative part of my childhood, very appropriate, and I don't regret it, but I do think that this decision was a turning point for me.
I grew overly confident after this. Logically, I did still know there were dangers on the internet. Foolishly, I thought I was smart enough to avoid it. And I thought it wasn't as common as it was. I thought that what I considered my spaces (youtube, instagram, and what was at the time musically) were safe.
My mom isnt that much older than I am, so she was still fairly young when the internet was getting popular. She told me recently about a challenge on the internet back in the day called “Run the Gauntlet". I believe a friend of mine who is my age also did it. It claims to be "The most vile, puke inducing, hard to watch videos on the internet". There are twenty levels, each getting increasingly disturbing. Lots of the videos involve death.
Luckily, I never partook in this internet trend. But that doesn't mean I didn't see anything of the sorts. I was an early teen when tiktok came out and I think it is one of the most dangerous platforms when it comes to this sort of content. Sometimes I still see flashes of videos of people dying in my head. I learned pretty quickly not to let my curiosity get the better of me.
I have tried to write the ending to this several times, but I dont think I have anything to say that hasent been said. All this really is is another voice screaming out into the void in hopes that maybe if enough people do then something will be different.