Reply to Raising your kids screen-free (or minimal screens) -- experience from parents with older kids?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Your kids will start begging for a phone in 4th/5th grade. The pleas will intensify. They will not abate.

Your children will need cell phones in middle school. First, that's where kids social lives are now whether you like it or not. You want your child to have friends, right? Second, if your child is doing after-school activities, they will need to be able to text you regarding pick up times, letting you know they're home or where they are, etc.

They will also need a laptop because all their readings and homework is online.

By high school, they will take their phones everywhere. My HS student just picked up her mandatory school-issued laptop yesterday, even though she already has one at home. It is for connecting to Google Classroom, a requirement. [b]Glimpse the future, OP.[/b][/quote]

OP here. I didn't mention this in my initial post, because it doesn't seem relevant. But my partner works closely with a lot of Silicon Valley types and we have spent time out there. Do you know what most Silicon Valley execs do with their kids? Little to no screen time.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/26/style/phones-children-silicon-valley.html

https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-parents-raising-their-kids-tech-free-red-flag-2018-2

If you even get a glimpse into how this kind of technology works and what it's designed to do, you would not want your kids on it. The "future" is, in the eyes of the people inventing this technology, going to be divided into the mindless masses and the ones who control them through their creations. Until it's regulated by the government, which doesn't seem like it will be happening any time soon, the influence of these industries on our daily lives and culture is a real concern. Everyone here seems to be saying "well, everyone is doing it so you don't want to miss out." That's how people used to think about smoking when the tobacco industry had its way with government. There is a reason why social media, gaming, and YouTube controls so much of our nation's attention and time. This is big money we're talking about, and conquering the market of the next generation is part of it.

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I think a key point of these articles is that the limits are age dependent. That seems like basic parenting to me -- deciding when your kids are old enough to benefit from and manage an experience responsibly. Just because I don't let a 10 year old drive doesn't mean they won't eventually get a chance to have a license.

There is no evidence that screen time benefits young children, e.g. 0-5. It is correlated with attention deficits and other mental health issues way into adolescence. If you need TV to get dinner on the table, that's fine -- life is life. But the fact is that we have come to rely on screens to entertain, pacify, and distract our children and we will pay a price. Whether or not all of your kids' friends' parents also did this and have similarly screen-reliant children is besides the point. [/quote]

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