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Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?

#291

Post by friedman23 »

kaesar14 wrote: post #282
friedman23 wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah ok, so you are fine with taking your child to Las Vegas and sitting them in front of the slot machine with a handful of quarters? Maybe just give them a small heroin injection too, there's a chance they wont get addicted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum Also, giving your children unfettered access to the internet is not the same thing as giving them money for a slot machine. They don't have money unless you give it to them. It's not difficult to prevent them from having unlimited access to your credit cards. Children will grow up into adults that have access to all this stuff anyway. Better to teach and manage exces…

I reject that it's reductio ad absurdum. We do not know the effect of this kind of stimulus on children and how it can affect their development.

Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?

#292

Post by tboyd47 »

aerovistae wrote: post #144
tboyd47 wrote: post #40

I've been fighting this battle for years and I still fight it every day with my kids. First, you MUST set limits on everything addictive to children in your house including the internet. Limit the content they can access and the place and time they can use it. You can adjust the limits, but never remove them. Second, if they're old enough, explain the concept of addiction to them. Here is a perfect video to do that:…

What do you make of this one's approach? Just wondering since you're on opposite ends of the spectrum. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34022113

I don't see it that way. Both of our approaches are based on education but in different formats. His approach may be valid for his kids. I'm just sharing what works for my family.

From my perspective, children watch what you do more than what you say. If you tell them the internet is dangerous but then leave it wide open, you're sending mixed messages to them and they're not going to take your advice seriously.

The point is not to seal them off in a bubble. I talk about all kinds of hard realities with my kids. And they're exposed to hard realities when I'm not there. The point is that your actions have to match your statements.

> Probably dozens of times, maybe hundreds, we have had "the talk" about how there's a lot of weird shit in the world, internet included, and it's better to know about that stuff and how to deal with it than to create a temporary secure enclave at home where it doesn't exist.

Hundreds of times? That sounds terribly embarrassing, doesn't it?

And why wouldn't I want my home to be a sanctuary from the weird shit out there? Isn't the point of a home a place you can kick off your shoes and relax?

> They've fallen thousands of times, we've picked them up thousands of times, and now they're pretty good at not falling.

Thousands??? He has to accept the possibility that they've just gotten better at hiding their vices. That's what teenagers are good at.

This kind of supports my assumption that his kids aren't taking his rules OR his advice seriously.

Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?

#293

Post by stewx »

My parents' method: you have to earn screen time by doing something productive. In my case, practising a musical instrument. 30 mins of music practice = 60 mins of screen time earned for that day.

I hated it but I quickly became one of the best musicians in our school band.

Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?

#294

Post by adaml_623 »

mehphp wrote: post #92
adaml_623 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you do with her when you are out with friends? Restaurants, etc?

This question kind of shocks me. We do allow, very limited, screen-time but the concept of having no idea what to do with the kids without a screen is jarring to say the least.

Haha. You're easily shocked. I was replying to an interesting comment talking about how they interact with their child. And I was curious about what they do in a situation that they hadn't included in their comment.

There are a lot of great replies to my question. I'm happy I asked it.

Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?

#295

Post by kaesar14 »

friedman23 wrote: post #291
kaesar14 wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum Also, giving your children unfettered access to the internet is not the same thing as giving them money for a slot machine. They don't have money unless you give it to them. It's not difficult to prevent them from having unlimited access to your credit cards. Children will grow up into adults that have access to all this stuff anyway. Better to teach and manage exces…

I reject that it's reductio ad absurdum. We do not know the effect of this kind of stimulus on children and how it can affect their development.

So clearly it's comparable to heroin and slot machines at Vegas then, if we don't know the impact. Just gotta get a couple more years in to know for sure whether we can compare it to opiates :)

Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?

#296

Post by nkohari »

HideousKojima wrote: post #61
nkohari wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What works for some doesn't work for everyone. Parents should do what works for them and their kids, without judgement.

Seeing as parents were able to bring kids with them to places long before screens even existed, it's definitely not just a matter of what does or doesn't work. Kids can be taught to be well-behaved without screens, and if you're unable to do that for your kids then that's on you. And I'll judge you as much as I like.

There's nothing more sanctimonious than a person judging someone else's parenting. Personally, I think it's pathetic, but I'll leave you to it.
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