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Looks like I will be a parent in this mess! My own kids are done, but I have my granddaughter to raise. (Rough, but she is great and will probably make me liv

Looks like I will be a parent in this mess! My own kids are done, but I have my granddaughter to raise. (Rough, but she is great and will probably make me live longer, so no worries.) This is going to be a fight! That level of surveillance is unacceptable. I have no plan yet, but will in a year or so. Guess it is wake up call time. Seriously, I look back at my upbringing and what I was able to do for my kids, and shudder. I cannot imagine this ends well. Can you? Seriously. Anyone want to talk me down, or just talk?

betwixthewires 5y ago
The best thing you can do, unfortunately, is teach them yourself. It is hard, but the real root of this problem is that people expect schools, and therefore the state, to not only teach their children math and history but raise them. As a result of this, people who actually want to raise their own kids get saddled with restrictive practices designed to raise your kids for you. The only way to opt out of it is to forego institutionalized education entirely, or at least if it hasn't gone quite that far yet, it will. School the institution was not a very good place when I was there. It was not actually conducive to learning, peer influences were in general negative, authority figures were often abusive or at the very least ambivalent, and a sense of silent acquiescence to any authoritative demand was ingrained to the point that it takes young people years of their early adulthood to break this and begin building their own lives how they want them. Many of my peers went into massive debt on the presupposition that authority figures know what's best and that the institutional structure will look out for them, and I believe this is the direct result of the basically authoritarian environment they were raised in. And this, all I had to deal with were grainy cameras in the halls and police writing children tickets. From what I hear from people younger than me, it is much worse now.
- ddingus 5y ago
  Yeah. That's a hard scenario for us right now, but I think your overall take on this is the right one. We have much work to do. A lot of what you said, is what my own kids said. It's amazing how much it has degraded.
- ddingus 5y ago
  We are trending that way for sure. Each few years, I can feel it all encroaching into areas of life that should be left alone. This batch of kids are going to have it rough.
tremon 5y ago
I would consider this a teaching opportunity. Get her a Faraday case for the device. Explain to her that the case isn't to protect the device, but to protect her from the device. Try to make her control the device, rather than the other way around.
- ddingus 5y ago
  She is little, so yeah deffo time for tech education. My own kids were not particularly interested, but she is, so that's a nice change. Edit: I am gonna start with Faraday Cage. Thanks.
  - 29083011397778 5y ago
    Being the "confused grandparent" might be a fantastic way to teach via the Socratic method. Moreso if one is savvy enough to know what's likely being done (such as remote-admin by the school board), what is rather dystopian and ought to be avoided (see above), and how to work around the blocks put in place by others.
    - ddingus 5y ago
      I like the thinking here. Good to draw from.
  - avh02 5y ago
    I don't think you will, but just to be safe: don't come off as crazy paranoid grandpa please!
    - ddingus 5y ago
      Yeah, not now. But when the discussion gets to radios and phones, I will. Foundation stuff. Right now, we are doing lots of basic science. She did ask how the cellphone works. When she can understand something about radio, yeah. Cell phone does not answer in here, why? Right now, it is TikTok. Fun!

betwixthewires 5y ago

The best thing you can do, unfortunately, is teach them yourself. It is hard, but the real root of this problem is that people expect schools, and therefore the state, to not only teach their children math and history but raise them. As a result of this, people who actually want to raise their own kids get saddled with restrictive practices designed to raise your kids for you. The only way to opt out of it is to forego institutionalized education entirely, or at least if it hasn't gone quite that far yet, it will. School the institution was not a very good place when I was there. It was not actually conducive to learning, peer influences were in general negative, authority figures were often abusive or at the very least ambivalent, and a sense of silent acquiescence to any authoritative demand was ingrained to the point that it takes young people years of their early adulthood to break this and begin building their own lives how they want them. Many of my peers went into massive debt on the presupposition that authority figures know what's best and that the institutional structure will look out for them, and I believe this is the direct result of the basically authoritarian environment they were raised in. And this, all I had to deal with were grainy cameras in the halls and police writing children tickets. From what I hear from people younger than me, it is much worse now.

ddingus 5y ago
Yeah. That's a hard scenario for us right now, but I think your overall take on this is the right one. We have much work to do. A lot of what you said, is what my own kids said. It's amazing how much it has degraded.
ddingus 5y ago
We are trending that way for sure. Each few years, I can feel it all encroaching into areas of life that should be left alone. This batch of kids are going to have it rough.

tremon 5y ago

I would consider this a teaching opportunity. Get her a Faraday case for the device. Explain to her that the case isn't to protect the device, but to protect her from the device. Try to make her control the device, rather than the other way around.

ddingus 5y ago
She is little, so yeah deffo time for tech education. My own kids were not particularly interested, but she is, so that's a nice change. Edit: I am gonna start with Faraday Cage. Thanks.
- 29083011397778 5y ago
  Being the "confused grandparent" might be a fantastic way to teach via the Socratic method. Moreso if one is savvy enough to know what's likely being done (such as remote-admin by the school board), what is rather dystopian and ought to be avoided (see above), and how to work around the blocks put in place by others.
  - ddingus 5y ago
    I like the thinking here. Good to draw from.
- avh02 5y ago
  I don't think you will, but just to be safe: don't come off as crazy paranoid grandpa please!
  - ddingus 5y ago
    Yeah, not now. But when the discussion gets to radios and phones, I will. Foundation stuff. Right now, we are doing lots of basic science. She did ask how the cellphone works. When she can understand something about radio, yeah. Cell phone does not answer in here, why? Right now, it is TikTok. Fun!