this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2026
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:

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When I was 8, I remember being bored and curious and touching a lot of parents stuff... phones... wallets... legal documents...

Most parents don't put their stuff in safes...

Like... THE WALLET IS RIGHT THERE... I COULD JUST GRAB IT!

If they had age verification stuff back then... I could've just... quickly snap a pic of their ID and just YOLO it...

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[–] TribblesBestFriend@startrek.website 122 points 6 days ago (18 children)

Anyway it’s not about Age Verification, it’s about control, coercitive control. You go to an environmental manifestation and your dad get a call, that type of thing

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[–] AmbitiousProcess@piefed.social 39 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Most age verification providers also require video with the person's face doing specific movements, which is then matched with the ID, so stealing an ID probably wouldn't be enough.

Not that it'll stop kids from trying, and sending their parent's ID to some random sketchy company without their knowledge anyways.

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 26 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Google/Youtube only requires either a selfie or an ID...

Hence why I said most.

Regardless though, you know they're gonna up the ante as they go. The more normalized it becomes to share more data, the easier it is for them to ask everyone for it too.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Ok. AI of their dads face, doing those movements.

Could work. A lot of the time these current systems have... dubious liveness checks.

Over time they're definitely going to get better, though, and I have a feeling that with AI watermarking being baked into a lot of the actually good models, it's not going to be super reliable or repeatable.

[–] Bwaz@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago

Change ID photo of dad's face to yours

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 32 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Yes. None of these laws prevent children from viewing porn or whatever. It just forces them to do this or go to unregulated sides.

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[–] webghost0101@sopuli.xyz 25 points 6 days ago (1 children)

As long as the platform can pretend there are no children it doesn’t need to provide safety features for them. Thats what this is about.

Adults can be exploited more freely and legally. As a bonus they are getting more personal information of having you provide proof that you are of exploitable age.

That kids will fake it will be blamed on the parents and not them.

[–] rockerface@lemmy.cafe 8 points 6 days ago

Just like HR and legal department at any company, this isn't to protect the customers, this is to protect the owners.

[–] BlackLaZoR@lemmy.world 13 points 6 days ago

I'd just buy my child a VPN to avoid this shit.

[–] NarrativeBear@lemmy.world 19 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

If a website requires a photo of a person ID or something like a drivers license, this is not "age verification", it's "identity verification".

That leads down a whole other rabbit hole of being tracked online.

Also if something like a website or pc starts asking me to upload documents with personal identifiable information on it (that not related to banking, healthcare, or a government service, I will straight up stop using it and block at my network level.

[–] AcidiclyBasicGlitch@sh.itjust.works 11 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

100% this.

There's a smart mart where I grew up that was built in the late 90s. https://www.yelp.com/biz/smartmart-memphis-2

Basically what it sounds like. A fully automated neighborhood convenience store before automation was really a common thing. Actually very similar in appearance and function to the automated Carl's JR. in Idiocracy.

When I was in highschool my friend's mom used to just give her ID and send her down to the smart mart to "buy my smokes." That was 20 years ago, but I'm really not sure how tf it would be any different with this tech?

I think they even had some kind of early frt that was supposed to scan the face of the purchaser and match it to the id. Funny thing about genetics, you often share similar facial features with the person who gave birth to you.

Also, this is a bit of a tangential point, but even if you weren't trying to "abuse" the automated system's safety features, there were still unintentional glitches that resulted in kids being exposed to things they weren't supposed to be exposed to. Like when I was 16, I was bored and went to smart mart one night to get a drink. Somehow ended up receiving a free pack of zigzags with my Yoohoo.

The network state tech already glitches all the fucking time. They've repeatedly exposed sensitive government data and put all of us at risk of identity theft while claiming to have some kind of technocratic elite status that makes them qualified to lead America and do the stupid shit they keep on doing. This age verification bullshit is just the latest very poorly disguised invasion of privacy in the name of safety, and it is so fucking obvious nothing good will come of this.

In reality, they don't know wtf they're doing other than gaining more control that will enable further exploitation. And it's not even like we have a say in whether we choose to use the enshitified tech. They're forcing it on us. Idiocracy has become mandatory reality thanks to the nanny network state full of "libertarians" who despise regulations, until it comes to regulating the private lives of citizens.

Since it's their shitty private monopoly being shoved down our throats, still paid for with our tax dollars but not government run in the traditional sense, it can't possibly be oppression, and we should thank these technocratic experts for steering us into the fucking ground.

And that's not even taking into consideration how creepy and concerning it should be to anyone with two fucking brain cells, that we're obviously enabling a network of wealthy pedophiles, (who have repeatedly proved themselves to be above justice), to have the ability to just create a database of children across the U.S. that they will then be able to track and locate every time they use a device or walk past a surveillance camera with live FRT. What a fucking nightmare.

[–] kbal@fedia.io 16 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Don't worry. Over the coming years they will find all the loopholes and tricks and close them off one by one until we're all securely tagged with electronic brain implants that can detect when you're thinking about lying about your exact age.

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

With the brain implants, they can just see how many years worth of memories you have.

[–] kbal@fedia.io 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Don't worry. They would never use the brain implants to inspect your other thoughts and memories. They are only there to protect the children.

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 5 points 6 days ago (2 children)

"Mom, why did hit me?" cries

"What, no honey I didn't hit you." presses button on smartphone app

"You fell, remember?"

"Oh yea, I fell. I love you mom."


Honestly I wonder if there is hidden trauma that I forgot because my mom had some brainwashing sci fi tech that deleted my memories...

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[–] mlg@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago
[–] uenticx@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

This is what they are OK with. As long as responsibility is out of their hands in any legal sense instead of actual solutions that don't undermine privacy. They are OK with it.

[–] okamiueru@lemmy.world 11 points 6 days ago

It's not even this. It never had anything to do with responsibility, or child safety, etc. It has everything to do with tracking users which makes collected information more valuable to data brokers. Secondly, it let's them justify advertisement fees in the age where where some traffic is from AI agents.

[–] lmmarsano@group.lt 10 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

The US federal courts had an interesting opinion there: parents may always allow their children to access protected speech. Even with sex-related materials, the Supreme Court has stated

the prohibition against sales to minors does not bar parents who so desire from purchasing the magazines for their children.

They regarded as constitutionally defective laws that impose a single standard of public morality. Instead, they'd allow laws that "support the right of parents to deal with the morals of their children as they see fit". Laws that take away parental control are also impermissible.

“It is cardinal with us that the custody, care and nurture of the child reside first in the parents, whose primary function and freedom include preparation for obligations the state can neither supply nor hinder.” Prince v. Massachusetts, supra, at 166.

In another decision, they regard & defend parental responsibility & discretion in leaving access open to children, and they find measures "enterprising and disobedient" children can circumvent preferable over unacceptable alternatives.

The Commonwealth argues that central blocking would not fulfill the state’s compelling interest as effectively as the access number does because minors with phone lines could request unblocking or could gain access to unblocked phones. It also argues that a parent who chooses to unblock the home’s phone to gain access to sexually explicit material for himself or herself thereby places dial-a-porn phone service within the reach of minors with access to that phone. In this respect, the decision a parent must make is comparable to whether to keep sexually explicit books on the shelf or subscribe to adult magazines. No constitutional principle is implicated. The responsibility for making such choices is where our society has traditionally placed it — on the shoulders of the parent. See Bolger v. Youngs Drug Products Corp., 463 U.S. 60, 73-74, 103 S.Ct. 2875, 2883-84, 77 L.Ed.2d 469 (1983) (parental discretion controlling access to unsolicited contraceptive advertisements in the home is the preferred method of dealing with such material).

Even with parental control, the Commonwealth is undoubtedly correct that there will be some minors who will find access to unblocked phones if they are determined to do so. As the Supreme Court noted in Sable, “[i]t may well be that there is no fail-safe method of guaranteeing that never will a minor be able to access the dial-a-porn system.” 109 S.Ct. at 2838. Nonetheless, the Court did not deem the desire to prevent “a few of the most enterprising and disobedient young people,” id., from securing access to such messages to be adequate justification for a statutory provision that had “the invalid effect of limiting the content of adult telephone conversations to that which is suitable for children.” Id. at 2839. We hold that because the means used, requirement of an access code, substantially burdens the First Amendment right of adults to access to protected materials and is not the least restrictive alternative to achieve the compelling end sought, the statute cannot survive the constitutional attack.

So, according to them, presenting such content to children ought to be left up to their parents, and laws shouldn't infringe on their right to do that.

[–] SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works 7 points 6 days ago

I grew up in Italian-canadian households, so even as a little kid I got diluted wine at meals. As a teen I thought it was illegal so didn’t talk about it, then one day had a hotel room tossed by narcs who left empty handed yet left all the beer in the tub that we were obviously all drinking… only one of us was drinking age, and the room was in their name, so the narcs never even commented on it. In your home, in B.C. anyway, you have discretion about what the kids consume, as long as it isn’t abuse.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 9 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

Can even just find a picture of a random ID card. Maybe mock one up in Photoshop. Like, what's actually being fucking verified? That it's a picture with a human face? I mean, if it's ID or facescan, those facescan shits have already been tricked with images of video game characters.

AI generated id of ones president or prime minister seems to be popular choice

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[–] einlander@lemmy.world 9 points 6 days ago (3 children)

It's going to create a cottage industry of virtual humans. They completely exist on paper, but not in real life.

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[–] mycodesucks@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago

"Well, Mr. Smith... I see here that your son used your ID to access illicit materials on the internet. Did you not think to secure it? You realize you're criminally liable for allowing a minor to access inappropriate material? And I see you were at the government protest last week... such a poor role model you are, Mr. Smith..."

excuse me i have a little class i'm using norman reedus and death stranding

[–] radiouser@crazypeople.online 5 points 6 days ago (3 children)

My parents would have beat my ass if I did something like that. That was a pretty good deterrent.

[–] Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net 23 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Actually, it's been proven to be a very ineffective deterrent in child psychology studies. It just teaches them to not do it when your actively present and try even harder to not get caught.

Plus the lifelong psychological scars of being assaulted by a figure you trusted to keep you safe from harm but those are a separate topic.

[–] tmyakal 10 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Yep. Corporeal punishment doesn't make good kids; it makes good liars and sneaks.

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[–] radiouser@crazypeople.online 3 points 6 days ago

No arguments from me there. I was saying when I was a kid if I had done something like that (and got caught) it wouldn't have been a gentle, loving conversation about why it was wrong I'd have gotten. I certainly wasn't advocating it.

[–] rockerface@lemmy.cafe 3 points 6 days ago

I still don't trust any of my relatives enough to open up properly. It eventually gets used against me in an argument anyway.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 11 points 6 days ago

IF they find out.

My mom kept her purse by the door, mostly, not in her bedroom. If age verification had been an issue, I would have sneaked downstairs at night, slipped out her DL, taken a photo, and registered on whatever sites I needed.

If they sent some sort of verification to her email, I'd just log in, answer it, and delete the email. Of course I know her passwords, I showed her how to do it, and I'm always fixing some dumb thing she did.

Any kid is going to figure this out faster than me.

[–] Azzu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 6 days ago (6 children)

How would they find out if you put it back immediately after using?

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[–] Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip 6 points 6 days ago

reminder that South korea has been doing this shit with KSSN for games. anybody thinking IDs would stip kids is kidding themselves.

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 5 points 6 days ago

I think The People's Republic of China was having this issue with the videogame rule. I saw Public Information Films playing on loop on their trains, one of which had a child who took his dad's ID and credit card and started spending a lot of time and money on mobile games

[–] foggy@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I have been saying this for about a decade now

The only thing requiring government IDs online will accomplish is the creation of a market for immaculate fake IDs. That market will be fully satisfied.

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