My imaginary children aren't using your streaming service

Annoyance with Forced Kids Profiles and Prompts

• Many comments agree with the article’s core complaint: extra profile screens and repeated “create a kids account” nags are needless friction, especially on TVs where you just want to hit play.
• Some argue that if there’s only one profile, the selector should be skipped entirely; the profile screen should appear only once additional profiles are created.
• Others find the kids profile harmless: it defaults to the last-used profile and costs only an extra confirm, so they see the irritation as overblown.

Trauma, Triggers, and Limits of UX Responsibility

• One line of discussion: for people who can’t have children or have lost a child, a persistent “Kids” tile can be a small daily emotional hit.
• Counterpoint: grief is everywhere (schools, playgrounds, families in public), so a streaming UI can’t realistically be designed around such triggers.
• Middle ground: it’s not about guaranteeing a trigger-free world but about offering a simple “hide kids profile / never ask again” option that would help multiple use cases.

Parental Controls: Usefulness vs Complexity

• Parents in the thread describe kids profiles as genuinely valuable: age filters, per‑show blocking, and safer content than unsupervised YouTube.
• Others find modern parental controls overengineered, akin to corporate ACL systems; some argue if that level of control is needed, maybe kids shouldn’t have smartphones/TV access at all.
• There’s debate over education vs restriction: some advocate gradually teaching responsible device use rather than hard bans.

Smart TV and Streaming UX Frustrations

• Several complaints extend beyond kids profiles: duplicated “who’s watching?” gates across apps, ads after brief playback, and broken “continue watching” rows.
• Suggestions include using external boxes (Raspberry Pi, Android, Apple TV), but others note HDMI‑CEC unreliability, extra remotes, and privacy risks or even malware on cheap Android boxes.

Alternatives to Mainstream Streaming

• A faction has abandoned commercial platforms for self‑hosting (e.g., Jellyfin + VPN) and/or tools like Stremio+Torrentio or straight torrent sites, citing better UX and control.
• Physical media plus ripping is mentioned: more expensive and often lower baseline quality (DVD), but offers ownership and immunity from removals or nagging UI.

Product Management, Dark Patterns, and Metrics

• Multiple comments attribute persistent nags and missing “never ask again” to product metrics, not engineering difficulty: prompts drive “engagement” and feature adoption.
• Some describe a broader “enshittification” pattern: services optimize for lock‑in and upsell (kids stickiness, notifications, storage plans), with usability only tuned to avoid outright churn.

Attitudes Toward Children and Demographics

• The article’s line that “the world doesn’t revolve around children” sparks a demographic tangent: some argue society undervalues kids as fertility falls; others say fewer births reflect greater responsibility and higher care standards.
• There’s visible tension between child‑free irritation at kid‑centric design and the view that children are central to society’s continuation and social programs.
• A few see rising “no kids” spaces (hotels, restaurants, events) and this kind of rant as part of a broader anti‑child cultural trend; others insist it’s just about one bad UX pattern.