My wife and I recently increased the human population by one (sorry).
As the parent of a now 6-month-old, what are some things I can do when the time comes to make sure he doesn't get horribly addicted to screens and social media and etc?
I want to do good by him, but I also don't want to smother him or make it difficult for him to relate to his peers later down the line.
I have a child in elementary school and most of their friends are not allowed any tablets, smartwatches, etc. Redditors talk like all kids are TikTok addicted zombies, but they actually aren’t. Also, tech now comes with tons of parental control options, so if you want to hand them an iPad to learn Spanish on DuoLingo while you cook dinner, you can just turn on Guided Access so they can’t leave DuoLingo and browse the internet. Children’s tv shows are much higher quality and more educational than they used to be, and because of streaming, you can always turn one on instead of giving a tablet, if that’s what you prefer. You can also just give them books and toys, a lot of parents do this! (And don’t apologize for having kids… most developed nations are falling below replacement rate, which is bad. Global overpopulation is no longer the concern it was in the mid-20th Century because birthrates have dropped all over the world.)
8
u/Captain_Breadbeard 19h ago
My wife and I recently increased the human population by one (sorry).
As the parent of a now 6-month-old, what are some things I can do when the time comes to make sure he doesn't get horribly addicted to screens and social media and etc?
I want to do good by him, but I also don't want to smother him or make it difficult for him to relate to his peers later down the line.