Parents (myself included) have an impossible task of regulating access to technology for their children.
Societal norms are not aligned with what these educators are saying. I and many other parents know this but they are exposed to technology outside of our direct oversight at schools, friends and relatives houses.
Imagine whining about smoking in the first half of the 20th century or even the 60s and 70s.
Sure there’s an obvious element to it, but smoking rates used to be higher than 50%. Societal norms were that everyone was exposed to smoke, government was lobbied by tobacco and tobacco got rich.
There has been a generational shift in attitudes to, and prevalence of smoking, but only when the medical consensus was harder to lobby away and politicians were faced with pressure of a critical mass of bereaved relatives. It’s at the this stage that “average” adult has strong enough convictions supported by regulation that society breaks through.
Meanwhile, as an adult I am borderline forced to use a smartphone for banking, shopping and communication and need superhuman levels of willpower to avoid social media entrapment.
Big tech is 100% thrilled that people still push around the argument that parents are 100% to blame.
Exposure outside the home is a miniscule amount and could not result in this sort of deep rot. It's not an impossible task at all. Don't give the kids a screen, and when it's necessary, use site whitelists. Yes, they will be mildly alienated, but I don't think we should care. They would also be alienated if their peers all smoked, and I would still not consider giving my kid a pack of cigs. They will recover from an unpopular school life, but they may never recover from the effects of addictive technology.
No, you don't need "superhuman levels of willpower to avoid social media entrapment". Just block the damn sites. Delete your account before you do. No you don't need to keep up with Timmy from the 8th grade and his third marriage and worsening benzo addiction.
People smoked for the same reason people doomscroll - anxiety.
You can expose your kid to technology and also explain the role of moderation the same way you do with candy and sweets. You will need to model the behavior you want in your kid - that means putting your phone down. Buy a timed lockbox if that is what you need.
These kids will grow up and sadly/likely be a burden on the 60% who can read. Or the even smaller subset who can read, write, count, and be productively employed.
robshep|1 month ago
Societal norms are not aligned with what these educators are saying. I and many other parents know this but they are exposed to technology outside of our direct oversight at schools, friends and relatives houses.
Imagine whining about smoking in the first half of the 20th century or even the 60s and 70s. Sure there’s an obvious element to it, but smoking rates used to be higher than 50%. Societal norms were that everyone was exposed to smoke, government was lobbied by tobacco and tobacco got rich.
There has been a generational shift in attitudes to, and prevalence of smoking, but only when the medical consensus was harder to lobby away and politicians were faced with pressure of a critical mass of bereaved relatives. It’s at the this stage that “average” adult has strong enough convictions supported by regulation that society breaks through.
Meanwhile, as an adult I am borderline forced to use a smartphone for banking, shopping and communication and need superhuman levels of willpower to avoid social media entrapment.
Big tech is 100% thrilled that people still push around the argument that parents are 100% to blame.
eudamoniac|1 month ago
vorpalhex|1 month ago
People smoked for the same reason people doomscroll - anxiety.
You can expose your kid to technology and also explain the role of moderation the same way you do with candy and sweets. You will need to model the behavior you want in your kid - that means putting your phone down. Buy a timed lockbox if that is what you need.
notTooFarGone|1 month ago
if it's 50% it's a society problem and can not be pushed to the individuals.
rich_sasha|1 month ago