Many users do not desire to interact with underage users for many reasons. Some underage users may wish to opt out of seeing 18+ users so they may bond with people closer to them in age or perhaps for safety. I think a functionality to
- mark your account as 18+
- hide content from accounts who didn't mark self as 18+
- hide content from accounts who marked self as 18+ would be very useful to those users and set a higher standard of personalized experience for users engaging with social media.
This is a worry and problem I've never had and don't really understand. One of the joys of social media (including the fediverse) is that you're judged by what you say and who you are, not what you look like. As a lifelong fat slob and general ugly person, I appreciate that.
I welcome anyone bright enough to chat intelligently, regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, gender, religion, disability, age, etc.