161–170 of 254 posts
I mean sure I spent too much time on the internet, and all the porn made me a worse person. I wish there was not so much easily accessible porn for teen males. Even back in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Other than that though, it was fine.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> So far he hasn't turned into a domestic terrorist, and neither is he selling heroin for crypto on the dark web. Also, he has specific times when he can use his devices аnd limits on how much time. I think this sort of hyperbole is unhelpful. What people are worried about is more mundane: whether the hyperconnectedness will make their kids less happy in the short or long run. There is some evidence that the age of f…
[flagged]
You are assuming that the kids somehow magically know what would make them happy.
> One day, your kids are going to tell you that you are wrong. Totally wrong. Wrong about morality and ethics. Wrong wrong. And you are going to have to believe them, or you will lose access to a part of their life forever.
How do you know that? I for one feel that my parents gave me way too much access to tech while I was too young to handle it. Also, I wouldn't cut my parents off for disagreeing with me about morality or ethics, I would expect the same treatment from my kids when they are grown-ups.
> Raising a kid is hard, but being a kid is harder.
I did both, and in my experience raising a kid is much harder than being one.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
well, I am not telling everyone should do the same as me. I just don't want someone telling me that I should not do it. Because that's the final goal of such movements: start with "voluntary pledges", move into social stigmatization of dissidents, capture organizational rule, and then, finally, the law. The same script as the prohibition. It is an inexorable and fairly predictable movement, probably a cultural herita…
> Because that's the final goal of such movements: start with "voluntary pledges", move into social stigmatization of dissidents, capture organizational rule, and then, finally, the law. This is the first I've heard of voluntary pledges ending in prohibition via law. Do you have any examples?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's cool you, a tech-savvy HN poster, has managed to wield technology to find a high-reward/low-risk way to parent using devices, but perhaps your 'correct' solution may not work in all contexts for all people. Perhaps you just have a kid who has the right temperament to handle devices when young. Perhaps you work few enough hours or have the resources necessary to parent in a way to make this work. Perhaps the ki…
> If there's any truism to parenting (and education) its that there's no one size fits all solution So a pledge to try to enforce a one size fits all solution is dumb as hell yes?
This is the easy way out of the problem, but I am afraid, not the correct one. My kid has had his own tablet since 6, his own PC since 8, and his own cellular since 9. So far he hasn't turned into a domestic terrorist, and neither is he selling heroin for crypto on the dark web. Also, he has specific times when he can use his devices аnd limits on how much time. All modern OSes have some sort of parental controls bui…
I completely agree with the latter, but to achieve the former, it will have to be delayed to at least 18. 12-14 is the age at which they start getting interested in social media, fitting in a group, sexual attraction, etc., which is what makes social media nefast. Prior to that age, many will simply only be interested in cartoons and dinosaurs. It isn't magic, it's just how development works for many (in our environment, at this moment). Hopefully, by delaying it to 18, they will be conditioned less by the instantaneous attention call of whatsapp, tiktok, etc., although many (younger) adults seem quite addicted as well.
For non-Americans like myself: 8th graders are 13-14 years old.
12 - 13 is the age my wife and I have in mind for giving our kids their own smart phone.
this site feels like an "abstinence" promise site. sorry but pretending it doesn't exist is not going to teach your children how to deal with it. I fundamentally disagree with the premise.
Neither is about ignoring the thing, but about waiting for the appropriate circumstances. Abstinence is about waiting until marriage. This cellphone thing is about waiting until your brain is developed enough.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Giving a child a smartphone is coming from a place of tremendous privilege. Phone plans aren’t cheap, phones aren’t cheap (at least phones that are usable aren’t). It’s baffling to me that you solved your problem by giving your child an incredibly addicting device that most child development experts compare to hard drugs.
Are you seriously trying to suggest that it's equivalently risky giving a 10 year old a phone or heroin?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Smart Phones are computers, in a different form factor. Giving you kid an smartphone doesn't mean you need to give him access to facebook, twitter, instagram or tiktok.
Smart phones are poor computers. They also come with social media apps preloaded (the last cell phone I bought prevented deleting or uninstalling facebook) although that doesn't mean you can't order your children not to create accounts. They're also difficult to lockdown and monitor, and they continuously broadcast copious amounts of data about your children to third parties. Children would be much better served by h…
Not to fiddle with things and learn something new.
For the vast majority of people, computers are just very expensive entertainment devices. That's why Smartphones are so successful. Not because they are great at computing, but everyone has their own personal slot machine. It's always with them. It's always connected.
iPhones don't come with social media apps pre-loaded (unless you count Facetime/iMessage).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> So far he hasn't turned into a domestic terrorist, and neither is he selling heroin for crypto on the dark web. Also, he has specific times when he can use his devices аnd limits on how much time. I think this sort of hyperbole is unhelpful. What people are worried about is more mundane: whether the hyperconnectedness will make their kids less happy in the short or long run. There is some evidence that the age of f…
To add a data point regarding early access to internet, I know of a <14yo kid who was learning digital art from yt, using iPad apps to draw, and sharing them on fora, and finding community online when they felt unable to connect with their peers in school. There were negatives to that experience too, and it could have turned out much worse. But completely prohibiting mobile usage is throwing the baby out with the bat…