Comment on Parents turn to smartwatches for their children amid global phone screen-time pushback
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks agoFair.
I can only speak for my situation and my kids, and compare that to what I see in articles. I also can’t help but look at the stats and see rising rates of depression and whatnot that seems highly correlated to the proliferation of “helicopter parenting” and social media, which tug kids in opposite directions.
So I’ll speak up about my experience, which I think is a practical alternative to what I see on social media being pushed by groups selling products that feed on FUD.
adoxographer@feddit.dk 3 weeks ago
And that’s also very fair, i tend to agree with you where parenting is more educating than helicoptering.
However cities are different, countries are different, norms even, and what might work in Paris, might not work in Dallas, or in Helsinki.
Also some kids might enjoy having the ability to talk to their parents and don’t see it as an infringement on their freedom, because it’s also how you act on the information you’re given. Others might not. You might even change your opinion if your circumstances change too.
I’d say, had you said - for my particular situation - I wouldn’t have batted an eye.
All that said, kids making mistakes and being kept far from monitoring and social media is a good thing 🤓
And thank you for being cool about this 🤩
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Sure, and if that’s what they want, I don’t see an issue with it. I’m not saying phones/smart watches are bad, I’m saying that the reasons so many people get them (to track their kids) are bad.
A parent/child relationship should be based on trust, and that goes both ways. Remember, we’re not raising them to just shift subservience to you onto some other entity (e.g. government), we’re raising kids to think and act on their own, and they need some level of independence for that to happen. They’ll fail, and hopefully the consequences are severe enough to teach them before failure has more severe consequences.
If they’re always tethered to their parents via some tracking device, when will that happen? If they never take off the training wheels or mommy/daddy always catches them before they fall, when will they learn on ride on their own?
Fail early, and fail often. That’s how we learn, and we shouldn’t rob our kids of that.
That should go without saying for any opinion.
That said, people are generally pretty similar from place to place. Some of the nicest people live in some of the worst places. Kids aren’t randomly getting molested in back alleys, most of that happens with family members and close relatives.
Instead of tracking them, consider teaching them what to look out for. Generally speaking, if they keep to themselves and stay with friends, people will leave them alone. Criminals just don’t want to mess with kids.
You too. 😁