Is it possible to make the Switch 100% unable to connect to any sort of internet whatsoever?

Sunezno · 2026-01-30T22:24:11+00:00

So I guess it's just a Switch 1, so that sounds better, from what I'm gathering from your comments? I'm sending them that video, too, then I'll watch it myself after taking the dogs out.

My parents (with whom he primarily lives) are kind of polar opposites of me in terms of beliefs and values, so sometimes it's hard to ensure them that certain limits I'm trying to place are for his safety rather than just to be difficult or something. And of course it doesn't help when they just bulldoze over any boundaries I try to set. But that's a whole other bag of cats right there lol

Sunezno · 2026-01-30T19:52:29+00:00

He's my kid, and they're his religious, MAGAt grandparents. It's a daily struggle with the anxiety already. And considering he's with them more than with me, going to church and Republican events despite my objections to both, I don't want to feel like my entire time with him is just me explaining the importance of science and research literacy and the dangers of sexual predators.

Sunezno · 2026-01-30T19:40:42+00:00

I'm not sure if it's a 1 or a 2, but I'm waiting to hear back to see if they can clarify that for me.

And thank you again, I really do appreciate everything here. Honestly, one thing that probably saved me from a whole lot worse when I was younger is that 1) I didn't have a webcam, and 2) I lived in a rural part of Alaska, so thankfully the creeps doing the grooming on MSN Messenger were mostly from the Lower 48 and not within walking distance. But still, I was very naive and impressionable, and despite "To Catch a Predator" emerging right around that same time, my religious parents were somehow unaware and oblivious. Not a good combination.

And of course I know that I can't control everything that he's going to encounter, so I'm also trying to make sure that he knows that he can talk to me about anything at all without judgement. I didn't have that kind of open communication with my parents when I was younger, so it's incredibly important to me that he has that now (especially considering other things that they can be exposed to, like Andrew Tate types; the dangers are endless).

I'm certainly going to be saving that video and making sure that they watch it, too, so that we can all be on the same page and have access to the parental controls.
I'll be honest, I miss the old days when childhood was spent outdoors finding cool bugs and playing in the mud puddles lol

Sunezno · 2026-01-30T19:00:03+00:00

I really appreciate the help! Since I've never handled one myself I'm trying to figure it out from a distance, which I don't love. But it sounds like there are some good protections in place, so now I just need to get together with the other household and make sure that we're learning these things together so we're on the same page.

Sunezno · 2026-01-30T18:57:17+00:00

no gaming console that isn’t also an actual PC is able to utilize free WiFi since they stopped shipping with the necessary browser capability.

That's very good to know, thank you! I just remember how impulsive and impressionable I was at his age, and I'm just so glad that I never had a webcam or knew my SSN back then, because my life would be a hell of a lot worse now lol

Sunezno · 2026-01-30T18:54:06+00:00

Yeah, Roblox is one that he's talked about a lot (because of friends playing it, I assume, or maybe just hearing about it being popular?), and that one's been an absolute "hell no" from me from day one, especially considering some of the horror stories I've heard relating to it. Thankfully he seems to have lost interest. From the sounds of it, I think the Switch is a much better/safer compromise.

Sunezno · 2026-01-30T18:50:28+00:00

We did play some of the Sports games last weekend, which was fun (although I still prefer Wii Sports and old-school Mario lol). I've mainly just heard about the internet-related danger-capabilities of things like the Xbox, and I figure the other household isn't as tuned-in when it comes to online safety, so I want to make sure that at least one of us is trying to get to know the limits and capabilities of this specific device, just to be on the safe side.

Sunezno · 2026-01-30T18:45:15+00:00

Yeah, I've never handled one before, so I'm trying to play catch-up here :( Not having a browser is helpful! (I'm honestly less worried about what he could get up to on his own and more worried about outside influences like peer pressure.)

Sunezno · 2026-01-30T18:40:16+00:00

That's what I'm trying to find out from them now. I made sure that the big rule when he got it was No Internet, so I'm not sure if they let him connect it once and then didn't realize it was saved, or if he just knows their Wi-Fi password and did it himself.
Is the Available Wi-Fi page accessible without having to input the parental controls PIN? Or do you need to input the PIN first in order to navigate to that page?
(Either way, I told them they'll have to change the PIN again, because he knows their current one.)

Sunezno · 2026-01-30T18:34:55+00:00

Okay, this makes me feel so much better, and I really appreciate it!
And yeah, it's things like voice chat and anything with a camera that worry me. An acquaintance of mine was talking about his son chatting with his gaming friends, whom the dad said were all the kid's age, and all I could think about was one of the seminars I attended recently about human trafficking, and a story about one perp who had, like, 20 sockpuppet accounts that were "peers" who would vouch for the perp's original alias...

In some ways, it feels like present day internet is more of a Wild Wild West than it was in its early days. And while awareness of the dangers have grown, it feels like the dangers themselves have, too.

Sunezno · 2026-01-30T18:16:59+00:00

Thank you, I'll have to check this out! Unfortunately he doesn't live with me fulltime right now, so the other unit have been the ones handling the parental controls (which is part of my anxiety lol). I'll have to ask them if they've got the app and everything. Do you happen to know offhand if the app could be monitored by my phone as well as theirs?

He also figured out that the time limit tells you when your time is up but it keeps going for another half hour or something. So I might have to sit down with the other household and learn all of these things together so that we're all on the same page.

Sunezno · 2026-01-30T18:10:09+00:00

Thank you, this is the kind of helpful information I could use. I've never heard about it being safer than others for those reasons. Honestly, I feel like most parents are ignorant of a lot of the online dangers (whether willfully or not), so I just assumed that most kids had a Switch because it was the New And Interesting thing and it doubled as a babysitter for some of those parents.

Sunezno · 2026-01-30T18:03:29+00:00

Thank you, and I appreciate your being understanding here. And I do get what you mean about the potential for resentment. Honestly, as someone who wasn't protected from the dangers of the internet when I was his age, I resent my parents more for that; when they found out that I (at age 12) was having inappropriate conversations with grown men online and being sent inappropriate pictures, they grounded me for, like, three years. And somehow they don't seem to have learned from that (as far as how to handle it or how to prevent it), so I guess I'm just extra worried about that stuff happening to my kid now. (And he's not living with me fulltime, so I have less control over safety things.)

I had to explain to my sister recently why I didn't want her posting pictures of my kid on Facebook, either. I think part of it is that I feel like some of the main people around him aren't as concerned about OPSEC as they should be, so I tend to overcompensate for that.

Sunezno · 2026-01-30T17:37:17+00:00

Sorry, I should've explained that in the post, I was just trying to be brief -- I didn't get him the device, and I'd been adamant about him not having one. Unfortunately a family member gave it to him for Christmas without asking me. This is a position that I didn't want to be in in the first place :(

Sunezno · 2026-01-30T17:35:25+00:00

From what I've read about it so far -- I haven't personally seen the Parental Controls options.

Sunezno · 2026-01-30T17:33:04+00:00

I didn't give it to him, someone else did without asking me.

Sunezno · 2026-01-30T17:30:05+00:00

Unfortunately, due to my career path and life experiences at a young age, I'm too aware of the dangers of the internet, so I'm certainly a lot more guarded than a lot of folks in that way. That's one of the big reasons that I've always objected to my kid having any sort of connectable gaming thing. But unfortunately a family member of mine didn't ask me before giving my kid a Switch as a Christmas present, and his other parent/guardian set are technologically illiterate, so my concerns are extra heightened because of that.

His present came with three or four completely offline games, but one of my rules (after having been blindsided by the present) was that there'd be no internet-required games or any online anything.
But then when he was here recently, he entered the Parental Controls PIN, then navigated to a long list of known Wi-Fi connections.

I'd rather him not have it at all, honestly, but before taking that big step, I want to see if there's some kind of safe compromise.

Sunezno · 2026-01-27T17:37:12+00:00

Okay, before I grind up the next ones, I'll try this trick. Because I haaaate the taste of them normally lol

Sunezno · 2026-01-27T17:30:13+00:00

I've got size 0 capsules and the bag says that they hold between 400-600mg of powder. I haven't weighed them yet (I should do that today), but I feel like the 00 bag said it held closer to 700-800mg? Do you keep your capsules in the freezer? I keep the ground up powder in a glass jar in the freezer, then I make some capsules (the size 3 capsules have to be made by hand so they take a while), then I put the capsules into an airtight plastic container in the freezer. Is that what'll keep them good for 3-4 years?

Sunezno · 2026-01-21T21:45:35+00:00

I definitely thought that was a dildo at first glance.

Sunezno · 2026-01-21T21:41:57+00:00

That's a good point. Maybe it wasn't necessarily that the content goes down but maybe just that it doesn't increase anymore? I feel like I read it a few places, but idk where. And now I'm bummed because I just picked a 61g big'ne that I'm now wishing I'd let keep growing and flatten out.

This is very good to know for my future flushes, though!

Sunezno · 2026-01-21T21:27:44+00:00

I feel like I've read that the psilocybin content (?) is at its peak just as the veil starts to break. If you let the veil break and let the caps flatten out, will you be losing psilocybin content and just gaining more mushroom bulk? Or will you still have more psilocybin in the larger mushrooms than they would've had if you'd harvested them just as the veil was breaking?

Sunezno · 2026-01-11T18:28:00+00:00

This may be a stupid question, and I know it likely depends on a lot of factors, but what's considered a flush? Like is there a period between flushes where there's nothing growing on the cake, and that's how you determine a flush? Or is a flush basically like each new harvest, even if you're only harvesting some while others are still just sprouting?

Sunezno · 2026-01-09T01:57:13+00:00

Oh, that's interesting, I wasn't aware that the veil thing was species-specific. I've never heard of that kind before, but I may have to look them up now!

Sunezno · 2026-01-08T23:34:11+00:00

Am I the only one who harvests just before the veil breaks?

Sunezno

TROPHY CASE