My ex taught in several schools in a fairly rural area and always praised the attention spans of the Hutterite children which seemed almost remarkable in comparison to the regular tweens who had smart phones.
Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
71–80 of 296 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#72My kid's almost three. From day one, we've implemented a zero screen policy. That means no phones, tablets, computers, TV (don't own one), etc. We've read to her since day one and she loves books now and her spoken/listening language skills are way ahead for her age. Wife speaks to her in her native language so she's growing up bilingual too. Wife takes her to parks, mommy and me classes where they have story time, s…
Interested in your household. Dual income? Single Income w/SAHP? What is your plan for Grandparents, babysitters, childcare, or even the school system to help maintain no screens? No screens seems awfully privileged in a way... maybe you're just Bill Gates
I think your phrasing is needlessly hostile.
Around the world it's quite common to have an extended family serve as a support network, especially around childcare. You're right though that maintaining no-screen when your child is with others is harder though, and finding how people deal with that was my main motivation for making this thread.
Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#73My kid's almost three. From day one, we've implemented a zero screen policy. That means no phones, tablets, computers, TV (don't own one), etc. We've read to her since day one and she loves books now and her spoken/listening language skills are way ahead for her age. Wife speaks to her in her native language so she's growing up bilingual too. Wife takes her to parks, mommy and me classes where they have story time, s…
Interested in your household. Dual income? Single Income w/SAHP? What is your plan for Grandparents, babysitters, childcare, or even the school system to help maintain no screens? No screens seems awfully privileged in a way... maybe you're just Bill Gates
> maybe you're just Bill Gates
Not impossible.
https://www.businessinsider.com/screen-time-limits-bill-gate...
I think it's quite brash to say that it's "privileged" to raise children with no screens. Would you like to elaborate? People certainly existed without them.
Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#74We changed DNS for all devices to use OpenDNS familyshield [0] for starters. It's a passive way to throttle some of the worst of the worst out there. Of course setting some limits on how much / how often helps a bit, and frank discussions about what too much of an addictive thing does to you. Our youngest is developmentally delayed and will absolutely ignore any guidelines and follow the path of least resistance / mo…
i hope some of your childrens manages to bypass family filters and starts his passion for the magical world of cybersecurity this way
Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#75My kid's almost three. From day one, we've implemented a zero screen policy. That means no phones, tablets, computers, TV (don't own one), etc. We've read to her since day one and she loves books now and her spoken/listening language skills are way ahead for her age. Wife speaks to her in her native language so she's growing up bilingual too. Wife takes her to parks, mommy and me classes where they have story time, s…
Find a Waldorf school with a strict no-media policy and you have a fighting chance to keep the kid healthy through grade school.
Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#76After having spent a fair amount of time using various different tools to attempt to control their screen time, my conclusion is that it was a mistake to have any screens in the house in the first place. A library of great books, good games, craft and art materials, and a collection of musical instruments would have been the best thing for my kids I'm thinking. Screens just make them addicted and miserable.
> A library of great books, good games, craft and art materials, and a collection of musical instruments would have been the best thing for my kids I'm thinking. Screens just make them addicted and miserable. I agree in principle, and one of the saddest things to see is the pile of all these wonderful diversions sitting ignored while Youtube plays. (See my other comment about how we have essentially banned Youtube in…
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Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#77My kid's almost three. From day one, we've implemented a zero screen policy. That means no phones, tablets, computers, TV (don't own one), etc. We've read to her since day one and she loves books now and her spoken/listening language skills are way ahead for her age. Wife speaks to her in her native language so she's growing up bilingual too. Wife takes her to parks, mommy and me classes where they have story time, s…
But your child will not be almost three forever. I have one in the same age bracket myself with three older siblings. The little one has practically no interest in screen time anyway, but it's a completely different story with the older ones.
At some point, they will get in touch with media one way or the other. In our case, once they get into school, they'll be using ipads anyway. So, I agree that for very little children, there's is absolutely no need to expose them to any screen time, but at some point as they get older, they will need to learn how to use phones and media.
We're still very restrictive with screen time, though. It's more like a treat that they get to play with a device for 30 minutes (which I, honestly, find already too long, but I'm not a single parent).
Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#78TV, not before 3 years. The personal console, not before 6 years. Internet, after 9 years. Social networks, after 12 years.
Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you do with her when you are out with friends? Restaurants, etc?
Paper and color pencils. Speaking to them, listening to their stories, asking about the place, playing to “guess what I’m watching to”, etc. If friends expect my son to act as a dog, it’s their wrong.
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Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#80Think of any bans and constraints as a loaded spring. Unless they have something that they enjoy / rewarded for / need to do with their time, you'll just frustrate them. They'll do the alcohol, drugs, TV, internet all behind your back. Or maybe they'll binge on it after they leave your house.
Instead, maybe introduce them to alternatives that are worth being addicted to. And, lead by example. Try to find something that you and they would enjoy doing together.