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As a parent, I say that no amount of parental empowerment can compensate for a culture that seems broadly unaware that there is even a problem. Sure, better ag

As a parent, I say that no amount of parental empowerment can compensate for a culture that seems broadly unaware that there is even a problem. Sure, better age / times restriction tools (especially ones that unify over all device types) would help. But in the end the kids can just get their own devices and a mobile plan with data and that ends your empowerment unless you want to turn your house into North Korea. No amount of empowerment will help me as a parent when: * their friends house has open wifi or even free devices where the parents let them watch/play/consume whatever they want * when there is free wifi everywhere * they need WhatsApp or similar to participate in school, clubs and friends groups * "everyone has it" and not giving them it will make them social pariahs There used to be strong cultural norms around keeping potentially harmful stuff away from kids going so far that people would not swear around the little ones. Today we have the internet that exposes ALL of that stuff to kids, even including drug analogs like tik tok. Imagine we are in the 80ies and a coffee shop showed hardcore pornography and gave cocaine to kids on demand. Absurd. They'd been closed down and arrested within the hour. But today it's supposedly okay but all that has really changed is that they bring their own little screens.

DoreenMichele 4y ago
I'm a parent. I don't agree with you. My sons are now adults but had substantial internet access from a very early age. They got a "safe list" of kid-friendly links plus some local software just for them. They weren't required to stick to those kid-friendly links. It was just to make it easier for them to cope. One son was so young, he figured out how to roll the ball under the mouse with this thumb because it was too hard to cope with navigation otherwise. I was fortunate to be able to be a full-time parent. We were a military family, so our social reality was a little different from that of a lot of people. If your only qualification is you are a parent, I have the same qualification for holding an opinion and we can just agree to disagree here, I guess.
- regulate_this12 4y ago
  Well, I was also a boy growing up with computers and from that experience I can confidently predict that either you helicoptered him to an unreasonable degree (which is in itself damaging to development) or he saw and probably enjoyed some stuff that you'd find horrifying and that might very well have caused some psychological damage. For my part, I had to deal with porn-induced ED as a young adult which I obviously didn't tell my mum. You are right, though, that more full-time parenting would lead to better results overall but I don't agree that it's any kind of solution, let alone practical or universal, to the problems posed by technology and social media.
  - DoreenMichele 4y ago
    I can confidently predict that either you helicoptered him to an unreasonable degree (which is in itself damaging to development) or he saw and probably enjoyed some stuff that you'd find horrifying and that might very well have caused some psychological damage. For my part, I had to deal with porn-induced ED as a young adult which I obviously didn't tell my mum. Nope. Neither is true. Sorry you had a negative experience. You are projecting based on that. I'm not your mom and I apparently don't handle things the same way most parents handle them.
- uptownfunk 4y ago
  Well you know regulating kids social media use is not going to make it harder for you. Controversial but frankly just say no to Drugs campaign of 90s was probably more beneficial until I was old enough to understand the nuance around drug use and could make my own decisions

DoreenMichele 4y ago

I'm a parent. I don't agree with you. My sons are now adults but had substantial internet access from a very early age. They got a "safe list" of kid-friendly links plus some local software just for them. They weren't required to stick to those kid-friendly links. It was just to make it easier for them to cope. One son was so young, he figured out how to roll the ball under the mouse with this thumb because it was too hard to cope with navigation otherwise. I was fortunate to be able to be a full-time parent. We were a military family, so our social reality was a little different from that of a lot of people. If your only qualification is you are a parent, I have the same qualification for holding an opinion and we can just agree to disagree here, I guess.

regulate_this12 4y ago
Well, I was also a boy growing up with computers and from that experience I can confidently predict that either you helicoptered him to an unreasonable degree (which is in itself damaging to development) or he saw and probably enjoyed some stuff that you'd find horrifying and that might very well have caused some psychological damage. For my part, I had to deal with porn-induced ED as a young adult which I obviously didn't tell my mum. You are right, though, that more full-time parenting would lead to better results overall but I don't agree that it's any kind of solution, let alone practical or universal, to the problems posed by technology and social media.
- DoreenMichele 4y ago
  I can confidently predict that either you helicoptered him to an unreasonable degree (which is in itself damaging to development) or he saw and probably enjoyed some stuff that you'd find horrifying and that might very well have caused some psychological damage. For my part, I had to deal with porn-induced ED as a young adult which I obviously didn't tell my mum. Nope. Neither is true. Sorry you had a negative experience. You are projecting based on that. I'm not your mom and I apparently don't handle things the same way most parents handle them.
uptownfunk 4y ago
Well you know regulating kids social media use is not going to make it harder for you. Controversial but frankly just say no to Drugs campaign of 90s was probably more beneficial until I was old enough to understand the nuance around drug use and could make my own decisions