

While I believe this is largely correct, it does not support your conclusion.
You are assuming that the participation would need to be to the benefit of the community to be worthwhile. That’s not the case. The party which stands to benefit most is the teen themselves. They may not be able to meaningfully participate in the kinds of discussion examples you have listed, but they could try.
After all, not being an ignorant dumbass is a skill that must be learned, and one that (as evidenced by this thread) many adults never managed to learn for themselves.




Yeah, it’s a legitimately difficult situation trying to balance effective safety measures with the needs of teens and young adults to be able to participate in civil discourse. And I’ll be the first to admit that I do not have a good answer for how to handle this.
Also I’m pretty new around here but so far my experience has been that Lemmy does not strike me as a welcoming place(period) so that likely goes double for anyone with an undercooked prefrontal cortex.