4 ms·

My kids are better for their iPhones. They have no access to social media and policies in place to make sure they are tools and not sources of entertainment and

by cjk2 2y ago

My kids are better for their iPhones. They have no access to social media and policies in place to make sure they are tools and not sources of entertainment and addiction. Absolutes on either end of the spectrum just lead to extremism which helps no one. This headline (the article one and the HN summary) are just extremism via reductionism. You can reduce this entire thing to a point but it deprives them of their instinctive tool using and building mentality.

tmpz22 2y ago
Not being on Social Media at < 14 is extremism? The same verb used to describe terrorists?
- cjk2 2y ago
  No that’s basically the law. What is extremism is depriving them of what is an essential tool in these times. Teach don’t preach.
  - averageRoyalty 2y ago
    Can you name anything that makes a smartphone essential - not preferable or convenient, but essential as you said? I hear this argument a lot, but I'm yet to hear an essential purpose they hold for anyone.
    - cjk2 2y ago
      Well my youngest (13 year old) daughter uses it for Google classroom scheduling at school, transport status (TFL), payments, online banking, checking weather, taking photos and editing them, tracking her running and cycling, listening to music etc... While not essential for any of these, it's a tool which you can leverage for all of these to improve things. Edit: not to mention the iPad+apple pencil which is just another way of creating art...
      - averageRoyalty 2y ago
        Absolutely agree these things are useful, and extremely convenient to have in a single device. However none of them are essential, and I'm not convinced any of the benefits of these conveniences outweigh ingraining this device dependance on children at critical habit forming points of their lives. Note that the trend of how addicted to their phone they are seems to directly correlate to their exposure when they were young. Boomers+: Barely at all Gen X: A bit Gen Y: A real problem Gen Z: I'd be surprised if 5/100 can watch a full length movie without looking at their phone If you consider at what point in life each group gained access to engaging modern tech, there is a clear correlation. Causation is a reasonable path to follow here, and it much too likely to risk young childrens exposure - in my opinion.
ricardobeat 2y ago
What extremism? You’re already doing what everyone wants, which is removing kids from social media. The article conflates that with not having a phone at all, but that doesn’t make it invalid.
- cjk2 2y ago
  Well the article promotes an extremist position to solve a sub-issue which is the problem. It sells clicks. Then again it's The Grauniad so I expect nothing less. It's less than objective these days.

by cjk2 2y ago

tmpz22 2y ago

Not being on Social Media at < 14 is extremism? The same verb used to describe terrorists?

cjk2 2y ago
No that’s basically the law. What is extremism is depriving them of what is an essential tool in these times. Teach don’t preach.
- averageRoyalty 2y ago
  Can you name anything that makes a smartphone essential - not preferable or convenient, but essential as you said? I hear this argument a lot, but I'm yet to hear an essential purpose they hold for anyone.
  - cjk2 2y ago
    Well my youngest (13 year old) daughter uses it for Google classroom scheduling at school, transport status (TFL), payments, online banking, checking weather, taking photos and editing them, tracking her running and cycling, listening to music etc... While not essential for any of these, it's a tool which you can leverage for all of these to improve things. Edit: not to mention the iPad+apple pencil which is just another way of creating art...
    - averageRoyalty 2y ago
      Absolutely agree these things are useful, and extremely convenient to have in a single device. However none of them are essential, and I'm not convinced any of the benefits of these conveniences outweigh ingraining this device dependance on children at critical habit forming points of their lives. Note that the trend of how addicted to their phone they are seems to directly correlate to their exposure when they were young. Boomers+: Barely at all Gen X: A bit Gen Y: A real problem Gen Z: I'd be surprised if 5/100 can watch a full length movie without looking at their phone If you consider at what point in life each group gained access to engaging modern tech, there is a clear correlation. Causation is a reasonable path to follow here, and it much too likely to risk young childrens exposure - in my opinion.

ricardobeat 2y ago

What extremism? You’re already doing what everyone wants, which is removing kids from social media. The article conflates that with not having a phone at all, but that doesn’t make it invalid.

cjk2 2y ago
Well the article promotes an extremist position to solve a sub-issue which is the problem. It sells clicks. Then again it's The Grauniad so I expect nothing less. It's less than objective these days.