Comment by drivebyhooting

2 hours ago

How can I parent my kids when every child in the school is a social media addict?

If heroin were commonplace and available in every kid’s pockets would parents be to blame then too?

4 comments

drivebyhooting

Reply
dotancohen  13 minutes ago

Yes, actually.

I regularly discuss with my son what he watches and views online. I also share with him what I view. I'm sure that he hides some things from me, but we have a very open channel and he most certainly know what his father approves of and does not approve of.

Furthermore, I fully expect him to cross boundaries and view content that he knows I would not approve of. That's perfectly natural. But while doing so he knows very well that he is overstepping boundaries. That is a critical nuance.

aucisson_masque  2 hours ago

That's why phone are banned in school in France.

And you can still regulate what your kid does when he's not at school.

gms  1 hour ago

I know many parents who manage this fine, I don't see why you can't:

1. You control whether your child has a phone and how much they are allowed to use it (Apple provides all sorts of controls for parents).

2. Every child in the school is not an addict. This is (for lack of a better term) a boomer view of the world.

  • intended  44 minutes ago

    Sure you can argue the nuances, however this is missing the forest for the trees.

    Children don’t grow up in a vacuum. They see how their peers operate, what they talk about, what they are playing with.

    Not being able to do that marks you as an outsider.

    And when the “toys” we are talking about are phones, video games, and social media, it isn’t just a question of a one off argument or rule.

    I have seen a 1 year old, whose parents keep him away from screens and tech, get hypnotized by swiping the screen of an Apple Watch on his aunt’s hand.

    SV and Tech had the most money, most people, and the ability to test and scale every idea to figure out what would enrapture adult human brains.

    This is not any sort of fair fight. A competition where the old approaches to family and child rearing win against the Tech that has been created.