The popularity of TikTok/Instagram’s unskippable garbage video players makes me think otherwise.

I get sent links to videos that are cropped from landscape to portrait back to landscape. The videos have irrelevant emoji all over them. They are even split in half, showing two separate videos at the same time (I presume in case you lose interest with one).

Mind boggling as someone that grew up seeing the advent of streaming high definition video, with the ability to skip around, adjust the playback speed, subtitle, etc.

The issue is they aren't as good at it as their parents, i.e. older millennials and Gen X. There's this expectation that younger generations are just better at tech due to being young, because a considerable portion of Gen X and Millennials were enthusiastic and hopeful about technology, and so embraced it and the Internet when they were younger.

The risks are certainly a bit more dire these days than back in the 80s and 90s, but there was also just a more careful culture. Platforms these days want you to share everything, and so kids just fall for it because they want genuine connection... but can't find it.

teenagers can be good at detecting low quality content, but they aren't very good at knowing when they're being advertised to (https://theamericangenius.com/business-marketing/teens-cant-...) and they're basically wired to be impulsive and make poor choices. The parts of their brains that let them evaluate long term consequences is still being developed. (https://www.healthline.com/health/teen-brain-development) It's why they are so vulnerable to oversharing (including passing around nudes). Companies who profit from collecting data and pushing ads exploit teens and children because they are so vulnerable.

I absolutely do in certain situations but not in others.

Older folks are more wary of trusting strangers, but way more willing to believe bullshit if it agrees with their established worldviews.

Whereas teens are SHOCKINGLY willing to trust strangers on the internet with deeply personal content, like nudes and mental health or medical stuff.

Both of the populations you noted are prime targets for abusers on the internet (as in many other realms of life).

Some surveys conflict with your personal observations

"In fact, according to a recent Deloitte survey, members of Gen Z fall for these scams and get hacked far more frequently than their grandparents do."

https://www.vox.com/technology/23882304/gen-z-vs-boomers-sca...