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My friend said he relationship with his twos sons were irrevocably ruined by smartphones. Before, they would chat throughout all their car rides but as soon as

My friend said he relationship with his twos sons were irrevocably ruined by smartphones. Before, they would chat throughout all their car rides but as soon as he bought them smartphones, they stopped talking to him almost entirely and spent all their time on their phones. With kids getting to that age, I’m holding off as much as possible, and I’m indoctrinating them to the sociopathy of social media, where the Algorithms don’t give a shit about you, they will do whatever it takes to maximize your engagement on their platform.

kelnos 3y ago
I know as a non-parent I should be the last person being frustrated with others' parenting choices, but it seems weird that your friend just "let" smartphones ruin his relationship with his kids, rather than imposing and enforcing limits on their use. Maybe the smartphones go into the glove box when riding in the car. Or in general, maybe the smartphones aren't always physically accessible to the kids, and are only given to them when they have a need for them, or when it's "playtime". When I was a kid, my parents didn't allow to sit and play Nintendo all day, as much as I wanted to sometimes. The idea that getting a smartphone for a kid inevitably means that they're going to have it on their person and be glued to it 24/7 is just bonkers.
- wiseowise 3y ago
  The point is that kids now prefer smartphones over their dad.
- sensanaty 3y ago
  Not a parent myself but I have 3 nephews. The problem is that screens are just scarily addicting for kids. They have limited, supervised screen time to less than half an hour a day for the youngest (5) and around an hour a day for the eldest (8), yet despite that it's practically all they care about. The only thing they seem to think about is getting back mum's phone so that they can watch youtube or whatever it is they do, despite it being such a short part of their otherwise eventful days. Hell, I've got a Steam Deck that I bring with me whenever I come around to visit, yet they don't care about it at all despite my steam library having around 900 games, they'd rather use my phone!
  - pawelmurias 3y ago
    Introducing artificial scarcity will make something more desired.
- remote_phone 3y ago
  Yes you sound exactly like a non-parent.

kelnos 3y ago

I know as a non-parent I should be the last person being frustrated with others' parenting choices, but it seems weird that your friend just "let" smartphones ruin his relationship with his kids, rather than imposing and enforcing limits on their use. Maybe the smartphones go into the glove box when riding in the car. Or in general, maybe the smartphones aren't always physically accessible to the kids, and are only given to them when they have a need for them, or when it's "playtime". When I was a kid, my parents didn't allow to sit and play Nintendo all day, as much as I wanted to sometimes. The idea that getting a smartphone for a kid inevitably means that they're going to have it on their person and be glued to it 24/7 is just bonkers.

wiseowise 3y ago
The point is that kids now prefer smartphones over their dad.
sensanaty 3y ago
Not a parent myself but I have 3 nephews. The problem is that screens are just scarily addicting for kids. They have limited, supervised screen time to less than half an hour a day for the youngest (5) and around an hour a day for the eldest (8), yet despite that it's practically all they care about. The only thing they seem to think about is getting back mum's phone so that they can watch youtube or whatever it is they do, despite it being such a short part of their otherwise eventful days. Hell, I've got a Steam Deck that I bring with me whenever I come around to visit, yet they don't care about it at all despite my steam library having around 900 games, they'd rather use my phone!
- pawelmurias 3y ago
  Introducing artificial scarcity will make something more desired.
remote_phone 3y ago
Yes you sound exactly like a non-parent.