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Sometimes you can’t help but wonder if life would’ve been simpler for kids without all this technology floating around them. It’s not that parents hate all of it, some of it’s useful, but you know, there’s this feeling, this small wish sitting quietly at the back of their minds. What if some things just… weren’t there?

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.

Note: This post was edited/created using GenAI tools.

Read next: New Study Shows How Search Queries Reflect Personal Biases and Limit Exposure to Contrasting Information

VTubers are coming to America, and as they do, they are rewriting some trends that underscore their initial rise in East Asia. That’s one of the key takeaways from a new report published by Big Games Machine, which surveyed the gaming-related habits of U.S.-based YouTube viewers.

According to the preamble of the report, Big Games Machine conducted its survey to suss out “the key content types gamers watch the most, which gamer demographics watch what, and what makes gamers choose one content creator over another.” The firm gathered opinions from 1,050 U.S.-based gamers who spend at least 30 minutes per week watching YouTube. The sample had an even split of men and women.

Many of the findings back up long-held beliefs about YouTube consumption. Guides and tutorials are the most commonly viewed gaming videos among the survey respondents, with 47% of them watching that genre. Reviews (40%) and funny compilations (40%) are other popular categories.

18% of the respondents watch VTubers on YouTube, but drilling into that percentage reveals a significant gender disparity. 23% of women said that they watch VTubers, compared to 14% of men. For esports content, the trend flipped the other way, with 14% of men watching compared to 6% of women.

The VTuber data is particularly interesting, as it is a notable departure from viewership trends in East Asia. In Japan, the home of major VTuber agencies like hololive and Nijisanji, the genre is most popular among men. According to data from hololive, 89% of the agency’s Japanese audience is male.

According to Streams Charts, about 70% of active virtual creators are female, but the popularity of VTubers among U.S. women is not just about gender solidarity. Big Games Machine found that women are more likely than men to seek out gaming-driven content on TikTok, whereas men are more likely to frequent Kick.

Does the preference for a social video platform draw women to the big personalities in the VTuber world? In Japan, factors like kawaii culture influence VTuber consumption, but those forces are less pronounced in the West. 45% of Big Games Machine respondents cited personality as a factor that draws them toward certain gaming creators — and that’s good news for VTubers.

At the end of the day, the preferences of gaming content viewers are all over the map, which means that smaller creators in specific niches can stick out beyond their subscriber counts. The Big Games Machine report found that medium-sized channels with fewer than one million subscribers are most popular among gamers. If you want to draw further insights from the data, you can snag a copy of the report here.

Apple’s UAE YouTube channel posted an iPhone 16 Pro ad today, promoting the Camera Control button as a great way to snap quick shots. Watch the video below, and answer our poll: Do you use the Camera Control button on your iPhone?

‘Never miss a shot with Camera Control’

The new ad is aptly titled Snap-a-Mole, and it follows a photographer trying to capture a group of quick-moving moles popping in and out of holes in the desert.

Throughout the spot, Apple highlights the Camera Control button’s multiple features, as the photographer presses and swipes away on it to open the Camera app, snap photos, adjust the zoom, and navigate to Photographic Styles.

As it usually does on its UAE YouTube channel, Apple posted two versions of the video: one in English and another in Arabic. Both feature the song “El Sonidito,” by Hechizeros Band.

Interestingly, although the Camera Control button is present on every iPhone 16 model variant, Apple decided to name the video “iPhone 16 Pro | Camera Control | Apple”, although in the actual video it says “Camera Control on iPhone 16”

Here’s Apple’s description of the video:

“Never miss a shot with Camera Control. An easier way to access your camera, adjust functions like zoom, exposure, or depth of field, and toggle between Photographic Styles.”

Accessory deals on Amazon

• Anker 25,000mAh power bank, 100W, USB-C: 19% off, at $109.98
• Anker Foldable 3-in-1 wireless charger, 15W, Qi2: 20% off, at $71.99
• AirPods Pro 2: 20% off, at $199.00
• AirTag, 4 Pack: 24% off, at $74.99
• HomeKit Smart Plug, 15A, 4 Pack: 20% off, at $34.99

In a futuristic world where Japanese office workers are forced to toil for 24 hours a day, who will mete out justice to the evil corporation that employs/enslaves them? A “fully armed cyborg heroine” who will shoot and slash those cybernetic employees and the entire evil org chart, in Full Metal Schoolgirl.

Full Metal Schoolgirl is the next game from Yuke’s, famed developer of pro wrestling games and Earth Defense Force spinoffs, and D3Publisher, known for its delightfully tacky The OneChanbara series (and EDF, of course). As revealed in the game’s debut trailer, Full Metal Schoolgirl will give action game buffs the mass slaughter they crave, all dressed up in Japanese schoolgirl outfits.

As one of two fully mechanized schoolgirls, you’ll climb the massive, 100-story office building of the world’s largest corporation, Meternal Jobz, where the firm’s corporate slaves (the “Working Dead”) stand between you and its evil CEO. As you climb the ever-changing building, fighting further and further, you’ll face office drones of all types and a relentless security system, upgrading your cyber-schoolgirl with upgrades as you go.

Full Metal Schoolgirl is pretty cheeky, based on its debut trailer, and developer Yuke’s appears to be having a great deal of fun with the premise. While the game’s English-language trailer is pretty amusing, the Japanese-language version, with its own peppy theme song, might be even better.

Oh right, also the cybernetic schoolgirls, who will have various unlockable and paid outfits, naturally, are livestreaming the whole thing in-game. Viewers of the girls’ streams will offer donations and upgrades, so that’s fun.

Full Metal Schoolgirl will be released on Oct. 23, for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Windows PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.