Part 3: Digital Violence

Part 3: Digital Violence

What the Internet Is Teaching Our Kids About Power, Pain, and Gender

We hand kids phones and hope for the best. But we forget the internet is not neutral—it’s a teacher. And right now, it’s teaching our children some of the most violent lessons they will ever learn.

📲 The Screens Are Always On

Our kids grow up with phones in hand. What they see becomes normal. If their screen time is full of:

• 💀 Violent games that reward dominance
• 👅 Porn that turns women into objects
• 😡 TikTok influencers preaching hate or control
• 📸 Peers chasing likes through self-harm, filters, or sex appeal

…they start to believe this is just how the world works.

And that’s terrifying.

🧠 It’s Not Just What They Watch. It’s What They Absorb.

The digital world doesn’t just show violence—it glamorizes it. It says control = love. That women are disposable. That boys shouldn’t feel. That abuse is passion. That vulnerability is weakness.

Girls grow up being harassed online before they hit puberty. Boys are recruited into incel groups and hate forums as young as 12. Sextortion, grooming, cyberbullying—these are everyday threats.

And while we argue about screen time limits, the damage is already happening.

🕳️ Predators in Their Pockets

We used to say “stranger danger.” Now, the stranger is in their DMs.

• 🚨 Fake profiles targeting vulnerable youth
• 🎭 Older adults pretending to be teens
• 💬 Manipulation that leads to real-world abuse, blackmail, and worse

Many youth don’t even tell anyone until it’s too late—because they’re scared, ashamed, or afraid of getting in trouble. And the predators count on that.

🔁 The Feedback Loop of Shame

A girl posts something revealing—she’s shamed or stalked.
A boy expresses emotion—he’s bullied or mocked.
A teen shares their pain—someone screenshots it for laughs.

This cycle creates more silence. More pain. And in that silence, violence grows.

🛡️ What We Need to Do

We can’t stop the internet. But we can:

• 📚 Teach digital literacy: how to recognize toxic content and call it out
• 👂 Create safe, nonjudgmental spaces to talk about online experiences
• 🧠 Help kids build emotional intelligence offline
• 🚫 Hold platforms accountable for hosting predators and hate

Most importantly, we need to listen to our kids—not just when they cry for help, but long before.

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📣 Coming Up Next

In Part 4, I’ll talk about the harsh reality behind “Why don’t they just leave?”—and how poverty and housing insecurity trap people in abuse.

The digital world is teaching our kids more than school ever could. Let’s make sure it’s not teaching them how to hurt—or be hurt.

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✍️ In solidarity and vigilance,
Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita
🌐 zipolita.com | Facebook | Twitter