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Comment by CrzyLngPwd | Hacker News Reader

Nature finds a way :-p

Also, who allows their 10-12yr old children to use TikTok, Instagram or Snapchat, FFS!

I owe my career on the Internet to my dad thinking he could block it from me when I was 11 years old.

I never really know what to think about this issue, On the one hand I used the internet unsupervised at around 10 and I think it was positive and I really do wonder if the extreme stuff such even murder videos and such are actually that bad for children in that lots of children would have seen execution's of people in the past. On the other hand I think the most negative thing about the internet today is social media and the sort of socialization it provides, The sort of way even fully grown adults treat influencers and the sort of trite conversations that you will now have with people on various topics and are only capable of holding these positions that youtubers have told them to. All of this has always existed of course but now the internet amplifies this and has connected too many people together and amplified the most stupid qualities of theses people and by extension society at large. Just look at the way are industry of supposed intelligent people have adopted the phrase 'token-maxxing' and other phrases that are just stupid. I think this is what is most damaging to children being exposed to that much stupidity that has been given far too much dignity.

A proper FF back to you, Sir. We are quite far out on the parental spectrum with regards to controlling their devices and I can attest to ultimately having no control at all. They will find a way. (And that’s natural in a way.) You just hope that next to controls, the talks about keeping your balance in life and being aware of dangers, even when everyone does XYZ, help in the long run.

Social media are a scourge on society and a US hegemonic instrument. Who cares about this opinion…? (Hint: nobody, it’s about parenting the three I want to help grow up in life.)

Maybe the issue is that they should not have their own devices at young age. Time limited use on a supervised family computer might be an alternative idea.

Do you think parents have a say in it? Kids find a way.

Kids just don't understand the effects that it has on them

Kids cant find a way if they dont have access to a phone.

To be able to do this they need unrestricted access to a smart phone in their personal time. This is something parents very much can control for 10-12yr olds.

A parent can reasonably ensure that their child doesn't have a phone. Ensuring that they don't have access to a phone is much more difficult. I suppose that you can insist that your children only socialize with other children under your supervision, the effect of which is twofold: you can see that they don't use a phone, and they will be much less likely to have friends in the first place.

It's very hard to not give them internet access at all though even if you don't give them a phone, because they need it for homework and you can't and don't want to supervise them every moment they are doing homework.

You enable parental control on the phone before you give it to your kid. Then you can easily manage allowed applications/web sites and screen time.

A lot of parental control systems stop working when they turn 13 so you have a system that works fine and then suddenly it stops working. I know a lot of parents who have complained about this.

Apple has MDM (Mobile Device Management) that locks a device down pretty well.

>Kids just don't understand the effects that it has on them

Neither does anybody else since it's not settled science. And even then it's questionable how much you can trust the science due to the replication crisis.

My parents believed that sitting too close to the TV ruined my eyesight, rather than it being an indicator that I needed glasses.

OTOH turns out spending time outdoors during childhood appears to reduce the risk of developing myopia.

I believe that too. I think myopia is an adaptation that we acquire by spending too much time in dim lighting. Ie indoors.

Daylight outside is an order of magnitude brighter (and will therefore give you more detail to resolve) than indoor lighting.

But that's just my personal belief. Sitting too close to the TV ruining your eyes is a just an urban myth. The story goes that once upon a time a company did produce faulty CRT TVs that could harm eyesight if you sat too close to them, but that was decades before I was born.

"Epidemiologic research indicates that greater average daily light exposure is associated with a reduced axial elongation during childhood"

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/25158414211059246

As the father of two children who grew up with the Internet, which I restricted for them, and grandfather of five, one of which is 13, I would say yes, parents always have the ultimate say in it.

A child shouldn't even have a smartphone IMO.

Of course they have a say in it. It’s bordering on neglect to give a 10 year old that junk.

spineless parents with a ton of excuses, just ask 'em, you'll be schocked.

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