I automated math education for my 9 year-old. It's a Unity application where a student required to solve basic (currently) math examples. For 10 examples you're getting a 25-cent coin from a coin dispenser. You can keep it or you can use this money to buy Internet access. My OpenWrt router is connected straight to coin acceptor. For one coin you're getting 30 minutes of Internet on all devices (iPad and PC). Since it…
Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
171–180 of 296 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
Youtube has been essentially banned in my house after seeing the effect it had on my kids. The problem, in short, was that Youtube continuously feeds them new content. Sadly - especially given the huge amount of actually great content on Youtube - everything that it wants to show my kids is absolutely dogshit garbage. A bunch of Gen Z kids with obviously wealthy families just acting like idiots. I couldn't stand it a…
I largely agree, but I've not banned it. I just have explicitly told them they can only watch from the subscriptions we've curated. It requires monitoring of course, so they'll watch it on tv (Apple TV) when I'm present. My kids are young enough that they're never alone. Once they're not, I've been thinking if I can write a MITM proxy at home for youtube that somehow only allows content from explicit channels.
great idea!
Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#173For our kids the big problem was youtube. Give them a game on their tablet and they are quickly collaborating on it. Give them a show and they will go see what the other person is watching. After not too long (an hour or two) they are completely done and doing something else. But youtube is different. They can sit alone, in a corner, slack jawed, for 8 hours per day, only watching youtube, as they respond to all ques…
We banned YouTube for the same reason. It's honestly a bit terrifying how completely YouTube can entrance kids. You could probably kill a kid by sitting them in front of YouTube and they'd die of thirst or starvation. The content is absolute shit too. The YouTube algorithm steers them toward these weird repetitive videos and obnoxious fast-chattering gamer channels. There's a lot of interesting and enriching stuff on…
Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#174I bring up ADHD symptoms because a lot of online tech leans on the short attention span of kids.
In my own experience, focusing on this has had a small but noticeable effect on temperament around tech.
The other side of the puzzle I think is helping kids with confidence and setting their own boundaries. If they're too young for that, they're too young for tech.
Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#175Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#176A big part of this is filling their time with endeavors they enjoy. Sports in particular are a big part of their life. They have been set on a path that they could be pros and make a career out of it shoukd they choose to and if injuries dont grt in the way.
You will be surprised how quickly tv and screen time goes away when the entire family is busy. There is no downtime during the week except when perhaps commuting - otherwise its light play with toys.
When other parents hear about our kids demanding schedules and training regimes, some are shocked. But we were also kids. We were full of energy. Kids love running. kids love learning, coaches , teammates, nownfriends. Its that or screentime.
Of course, this demands high sacrifice from parents. Its expensive. Its busy. You have to have nannies to shuttle kids from school to training or else have a renote job that allows you to commute midday.
Its work. Its not for everyone. There is no secret sauce. Just work, looking around, and knowing at the end of The day having the satisfaction that your kids are turning out quite alright. Then starting the next day, knowing that the weakest in this balancing act is you, the parent... not the kids who dont complain and are all smiles.
Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#177I automated math education for my 9 year-old. It's a Unity application where a student required to solve basic (currently) math examples. For 10 examples you're getting a 25-cent coin from a coin dispenser. You can keep it or you can use this money to buy Internet access. My OpenWrt router is connected straight to coin acceptor. For one coin you're getting 30 minutes of Internet on all devices (iPad and PC). Since it…
You could skip the coins and just have the unity app spit out time limited guest passwords for a network portal login, like a hotel does. I mean does openwrt support that?
Funny anecdote happened one week ago, when child got back from school and said "Hey dad, look what I've got". He had 100-dollar bill in his hand, I'm not even kidding. He said "I traded some Pokemon cards at school"...
Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#178I don’t know if I will. I was a computer addicted kid since I was about 8, when parents bought me a computer in 1995. When faster internet came, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, I was on the internet nonstop. And later on social media - LiveJournal, Blogger, Flickr, YouTube, but also some local servers that people here won’t know. I don’t think it hurt me that much? Now I am a developer and making more money than m…
Where I went to college though did not have internet access in the dorms! That was a mistake. There were schools I could have attended that did. I did spend a lot of time in the computer lab but I think I would have benefited from a direct link.
Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#179For our kids the big problem was youtube. Give them a game on their tablet and they are quickly collaborating on it. Give them a show and they will go see what the other person is watching. After not too long (an hour or two) they are completely done and doing something else. But youtube is different. They can sit alone, in a corner, slack jawed, for 8 hours per day, only watching youtube, as they respond to all ques…
We banned YouTube for the same reason. It's honestly a bit terrifying how completely YouTube can entrance kids. You could probably kill a kid by sitting them in front of YouTube and they'd die of thirst or starvation. The content is absolute shit too. The YouTube algorithm steers them toward these weird repetitive videos and obnoxious fast-chattering gamer channels. There's a lot of interesting and enriching stuff on…
Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#180My advice is to look at your own life first. If you (or the other parent) have trouble with getting addicted to things, obsessive behaviours, body dysmorphism etc you might want to take a more judicious approach with your kids.
I think there are also some things that go without saying:
- Don’t let kids sacrifice sleep, so no devices in the bedroom at night.
- Be extremely careful with tween+ girls and visual social media. Restrict usage, educate and discuss a lot, and beyond that make a special effort to give them attention, do fun stuff, let them know they are special and important and valued during the vulnerable years.
- Boys and pornography. Need to talk to them about it. I don’t know how to approach this, I’ve got about a decade to work it out.