Kids (With Phones) Are Alright

A shocking train video lit up Scottish social media after passengers confronted a drunk older man for secretly filming teenage girls on their way home. The article’s big argument is blunt: the girls’ phones weren’t the danger — the man was. It uses that ugly moment to take aim at calls to restrict teens’ phone use, saying those policies can end up controlling young people instead of stopping the adults who harm them.

But the comments? Oh, they were absolutely not ready to hold hands and sing from the same hymn sheet. One camp said the article was mashing together totally different issues, with one reader groaning that it “conflates a whole load of orthogonal issues,” basically calling foul on the whole argument. Another crowd tried to split the baby: phones are fine, they said, but the real villains are the apps designed to keep kids endlessly scrolling. Others went full age-bracket mode, insisting there’s a big difference between little kids and mid-teens, and arguing that under-13s should stay off full-fat smartphones and social media.

And because this is the internet, there was also a tiny but delightful side quest: one commenter got hung up on the headline itself, dramatically mourning the missing “The” from “The Kids Are Alright” like it was a cultural emergency. So yes, beneath the serious debate about safety, power and blame, the community also found time for a headline grammar skirmish. Priorities!