Kids with unlimited access to screens usually spend very little time doing other things, even with a wealth of other fun engaging options. Every adult I know (including myself) spends WAY more time on their phone than they would like and struggles to replace phone time with healthier, more fulfilling activities. Why would I expect a kid to be better at this than me??
I have pretty strict parental controls on 14 year olds phone and I offered to give him $20 every time he figures out a way around them. So he gets paid but then I also learn how to shut down the workarounds. Itβs basically paying him to spy on himself.
He is not even a devious kid and he doesnβt obsess about the phone like a lot of kids do but he can still run circles around controls. In fact heβs an extremely bright boy who knows that his parents have his best interests at heart and also knows that tech is a pretty perilous gateway to a lot of sociopathic dysfunction
Parents you have 3 options:
- NO SMARTPHONE
- constant work and monitoring
- porn and social media binging kids
Option 1 is the best and easiest but there is a point at which you have to start allowing them access and teaching them how to handle it so you donβt just drop them with a nuclear device and no self control practices when they are 18
- π· i donβt know if i believe there are only three options. i get that the digital landscape is pretty different from how it was when i was growing up ALSO in the digital age, and possibly worse off, but. hmmm.