How do you protect adults from internet addiction, like relentlessly checking HN :)
The noprocrast setting can be very helpful. e.g. for a month, set it to boot you off for 12 hours after you've been here 30 minutes.
Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
121–130 of 296 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#122We went from using YouTube as a babysitter to accepting that we have to reduce our personal time allotment and be more engaged with the child. The television was removed from the living room wall and the only screen time is shared activity screen time with a parent on the weekends for an hour or so. Lots more board gaming, reading, talking, crafting, playing. Way more parental involvement required. If there was some…
Exact same here.
I was pretty good at policing the YouTube content, but one day I came in and found my wife without a care in the world while my child was mimicking horrible YouTube behavior. Turned it off and never looked back.
Now my friend with an 8 year old is telling me how YouTube returned to his life. I’m not ready for that and instead trying to build a device that will pause time
Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#123Hi there! It's important to use the word 'addiction' carefully. There's a difference between high-engagement and addiction. Something can be highly engaging without having negative consequences. You can spend 100 hours a week doing something and still not be an addict (behaviorally speaking) if you don't exhibit certain negative traits. I helped conduct a study on this a while back (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S07475...).
Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#124Parent of three ranging from tween to college age. We have never had limits on anything. Screen time/content unrestricted. 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. We especially didn't w…
We’re in a similar boat and have never set limits. Our two kids have learned to self moderate. They both like technology but get bored after a period of time and move on to other activities. We also encourage other activities with cub scouts, play dates, gymnastics, swim lessons and of course occasionally have to be strict with prioritizing homework. I give my partner credit for facilitating most of this. Maybe we’re lucky or maybe setting limits oddly fosters addiction?
Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#125My 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…
What do you do with her when you are out with friends? Restaurants, etc?
I have a 6 and 4 yr old. We've had a strict no screen during the school week rule. They can watch on weekends, holidays, and sick days. There's a zero screen policy in public, with the exception of airplanes and long road trips.
My kids are really well behave in restaurant and never ask for screens (I'm not even totally sure they would think of it). The trick for us is regularly flowing food, allowing them to bring bring a small toy, coloring utensils, and honestly just engage with them. That could be through visual and word games or just talking to them and asking the right questions. It's hard work, not every meal out is perfect, and sometimes it feel like it would just be easier to give them the phone. But I'm happy that we've taken this stance. I can't tell you how many times a restaurant owner or a nearby table has said how well behaved our kids are.
Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#126My 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…
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Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#127Parent of three ranging from tween to college age. We have never had limits on anything. Screen time/content unrestricted. 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. We especially didn't w…
I am an adult and while I was a child, our father turned off TV and cable access. He connected internet for a while but later disconnected that down as well. Needless to say, now I am older, it's very hard for me to moderate my film-viewing and internet-using habits. And I have always been wondering, was it because I wasnt allowed to moderate myself when I was little that I cant rid myself addiction?
Nowadays, the only thing that works for me is to print what I want to read, turn off phone and computer, restrict internet access by turning off router, putting the router in hardest to reach places and lay down to read.
Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#128Parent of three ranging from tween to college age. We have never had limits on anything. Screen time/content unrestricted. 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. We especially didn't w…
I am an adult and while I was a child, our father turned off TV and cable access. He connected internet for a while but later disconnected that down as well. Needless to say, now I am older, it's very hard for me to moderate my film-viewing and internet-using habits. And I have always been wondering, was it because I wasnt allowed to moderate myself when I was little that I cant rid myself addiction? Nowadays, the on…
> Nowadays, the only thing that works for me is to turn off mobile and computer
See but I don't think you'd be able to do that if you hadn't the experience of living without. Like you literally wouldn't even consider it an option.
Also you may be somewhere on the ADD spectrum. Worth looking into if this becomes a problem for you.
Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#129You teach them about moderation, you give them the tools to make their own choices, and you protect them from the obvious/bad outcomes that would cause irreparable harm. So like, add a network filter for gore/porn up to a certain age, and try to do a good job of showing how to invest their time as a reward function rather than the instant gratification path. But ultimately, babying them will prevent them from growing…
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Re: Ask HN: How do you protect your children from internet addiction?
#130My 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…
I don't find this inspirational compared to another comment "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." since the temporary enclave won't be effective
but I am curious if there is inspiration on how you keep your kids entertained at restaurants. So many parents just find an ipad to be a sedative that its basically a baby sitter, they know its bad but are still in need of a quick solution and then 3 years go by before revisiting it and they don't need it any more.
How do you handle that? Bored kid at a restaurant, possibly misbehaving.