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> Social pressure to be connected constantly increases for children below 14 years.

This is absolutely a problem, but I don't think it's a problem that can be solved at an individual level, and denying this privilege to your child would IMO do more harm than good as they'd miss out on social events or provide a reason for bullying, etc.

Withdrawing from social media and the bullshit rat race of the "attention economy" is absolutely the right thing to do, but it has to be a voluntary decision.

I don't have a link to it but I remember reading an article which was saying something alone the lines of everyone having a limited amount of "weirdness points" and that we must spend them wisely. In today's society, being isolated from social media is a "weirdness point" (whether we like it or not) and it's up to each individual to determine whether it is worth for them to take the hit.

I have withdrawn from social media as an adult because I am at a stage in life where I don't have to prove anything to anyone, don't have to be "cool" kid and have other ways to play the "status game". However for a typical teenager social media popularity and the "cool" factor is probably their biggest assets when it comes to status and I don't think it's fair to be putting them at a disadvantage by denying them access to it.

Eh.. I actually not that concerned. I would say the social networking is more of an issue but Roblox and Minecraft are probably less so. Minecraft is basically virtual lego. Roblox is basically puzzles outside of adopt me.. I would ban adopt me if I could.. Yes there can be issues of bullying and what not. YouTube may be the worse of the bunch b/c it is so close to TV itself and that's where you see celebritification. We know its a seismic force from unboxing videos all the way up. I've seen it in person. But there are some YouTube shows that are not just consumerism and have wholesome content.

I will add that remote school adds in a live video component and my kids Facetime with their friends while playing games. I find that encouraging since it's the opposite of social isolation.

Clearly these things can be addictive. We know from Asian internet cafes that they are.

As an anecdote... I was raised on TV basically after school for a couple hours, basically latch key. I was also raised on a computer. The computer basically became my primary focus. My current job is software engineering and I was way ahead of the game even before college. Today, I don't watch TV at all.

So I think there is a big distinction between active and passive screen time.

That being said, when I go camping or off to a remote cabin with no Internet, I find it nice to disconnect. You could argue that's a more natural state for us so I think it's important to take that time with your kids for a week or two where all there is is nature.

The Social Dilemma struck me as a pretty manipulative movie. It depicted recommendation algorithms as three evil scheming clones, interspersed with a skit showing a family with the worst case of social media addiction the writers could imagine. This provides huge latitude to exaggerate and mislead. I don't think many people would explicitly endorse the claim that social media addiction is so bad, preteens can't last half an hour before smashing open locked boxes to get a hit - but that's what the movie showed!

There's a three episode show on PBS called 'Hacking your Mind' which I think is better than the social dilemma.

I agree it’s an incredibly biased dramatisation. But I admit I could not watch it all.

> It depicted recommendation algorithms as three evil scheming clones

I thought it was a good non-technical presentation of what the recommendations / notifications work like. These were basically the pillars of engagement, ad revenue and... can't remember the third. We know it's a metaphor - what would you show otherwise - the code for rearranging timeline and best ad selection?

> showing a family with the worst case of social media addiction the writers could imagine

It's Requiem for the dream, the tech edition. Sure it's an extreme, but also it's not an unrealistic extreme. They picked elements we see - replacing in-person interacting with gamified social networks, rise/normalisation of extremist communities, literal addiction to continuing use.

> preteens can't last half an hour before smashing open locked boxes to get a hit

My first lockpick exercise was the keyboard lock on a PC to work around parent's time control, so... sure.

One big recommendation for all to watch "The social dilemma" on netflix also.

The social media apps on the phones are specifically agonized over, tested, and refined continuously to increase interaction, aka make users into addicts.