Parents these days, they’ve seen their kids grow up surrounded by screens, apps buzzing all the time, and platforms that keep pulling them in. It’s not something older generations ever had to figure out. You get the sense that a lot of parents are just trying to keep up, while also wondering if maybe, just maybe, their children would’ve had an easier time without some of these things crowding their world.
Actually, when asked what they wish had never been invented, many parents didn’t hesitate. It wasn’t even close. The thing they wanted gone most? Online adult content. In a recent survey conducted by TheHarrisPoll, over seven out of ten parents felt life would’ve been much better for their children if that part of the internet had simply never existed. Hard to argue with them on that one.
But it didn’t stop there. Social media, in general, made a lot of parents uncomfortable. More than half wanted it out of their children’s lives. If you dig a little deeper, TikTok and X (what people used to call Twitter) were right up there, about six in ten parents would’ve gladly erased both. Instagram didn’t get much love either. More than half would’ve preferred it gone.
Then there’s the whole messaging app thing. At first glance, it seems harmless enough, right? Just texting, chatting. But nearly half the parents wished those apps weren’t part of their kids’ childhood either. It’s probably about the constant connection, that thing where kids can’t really put their phones down anymore. Speaking of phones, yeah, smartphones themselves weren’t off the hook. About four out of ten parents wanted to ditch those too. There’s this sense that smartphones made it harder for kids to just… be kids.
Video games came up as well. Some parents were okay with them, but still, about a third thought life would’ve been better without them. And surprisingly, the internet itself wasn’t completely safe from this list. Around three in ten parents would’ve preferred a world where the internet didn’t follow their kids everywhere they went.
Even streaming services, which most families use all the time now, raised some concerns. About one in five parents would’ve liked to skip those too. Funny enough, television, the old-school one that’s been around forever, still made the list. Not a huge number, but about one in six parents thought their children would’ve been better off without it.
In a way, it’s like parents are standing there watching this flood of technology sweep through childhood, and they’re not sure what to keep and what to wish away. Some tools help, sure, but deep down, a lot of them seem to carry this quiet wish, that their children could’ve grown up a little less connected, a little more free.
| Mediums | Strongly Agree (%) | Somewhat Agree (%) | Total (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult online content | 43% | 29% | 72% |
| Social media | 26% | 29% | 55% |
| Messaging apps | 20% | 24% | 44% |
| Smartphones | 12% | 26% | 38% |
| Video games | 11% | 21% | 32% |
| The internet | 9% | 19% | 28% |
| Streaming services | 9% | 12% | 21% |
| Television | 6% | 11% | 17% |
Note: This post was edited/created using GenAI tools.
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