Comment by eludwig | Hacker News Reader

Comment by eludwig | Hacker News Reader

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I totally agree with you. My kids are in their 30s so I avoided this whole question through timing. I am fascinated to see what the others here think, especially those with kids that are in the affected cohort.

There was a very tragic event in our area (Norther NJ) just recently. A 12 year old girl committed suicide due to bullying, some of which was described as "cyberbullying." There are not a lot of details available yet, so it's hard to say if there was a smartphone involved or not. Can you imagine that not only are you getting bullied on school grounds, but now it also follows you home in your pocket? Egad. No escape. All by yourself. Horrible.

I guess in the end it really is up to the parents to do what they can.

That's a very sad story. You are right, the inescapability is very hard to imagine.

My own kids are 5 and 3. I am acutely aware that this problem is looming for us. So far, my kids almost never play with our iPhones beyond FaceTiming grandparents; they get access to an iPad on the one international flight we do a year; and TV is a rare, weekly treat. Both of us work so this is tough to enforce, but I've already fired one nanny in part over it. I am hoping that their own imaginations will become more appealing places to play than some screen, but I recognize the forces I'm fighting against.

We're not luddites at all; they understand that music and fun things come from the internet, they get that there are fun apps on the phone they can occasionally play, we don't make any secret of our own use of technology, but we position it as a grown-up thing, like beer or going to bed after dark in the summer.

I don't really see how our approach can survive first contact with grade school.

>>I don't really see how our approach can survive first contact with grade school.

I hear you. Best of luck. This whole subject is hard to find "reasonable parental balance" around. I'm really not sure what we would have done.

Thanks. Yep, nobody knows. Maybe we'll (claim to) figure it out and get a book deal out of it.

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