OT: Pausing the Internet

[Bibby]

It's important for parents to understand what's going on in the world of technology. A lot of people would be surprised if they knew what their kids are looking at on the Internet. I'm not just talking about sexual content (both images and writing, by the way), but there's a lot of other off-color things on social media that aren't particularly edifying. And yeah, a lot of people (of all ages) spend way too much time doing unimportant things online. It's a paradox: You need computers to be productive, yet a lot of the things people do on the computer aren't terribly productive. Computer time is a good example of something that yields diminishing marginal returns - the more you're online, the less likely you are to be using your time effectively and efficiently. And if you're losing sleep because of late-night Web surfing, that can have a lot of other negative consequences - especially when you're learning how to drive!

While I understand some of the concerns, it's dangerous for parents to try to use technology as replacement for parenting. $250 is a lot of money for a home router, and many of the more basic features (like disabling the router after a certain time) are available on far less expensive units. As for the other features, today's kids have grown up with modern digital technology - they can't remember a time when they weren't immersed in computers and video games (and, depending on their age, smart phones). They know a lot more about this stuff than their elders do. I can assure you that if kids don't want their activities tracked, they'll find a way to cover their tracks. Moreover, I believe everyone needs a healthy degree of privacy to develop properly. Too much helicopter parenting isn't healthy for any of the parties concerned.

I wasn't familiar with the "don't have kids/start a romantic relationship until you can keep a plant alive for a year" idea before, but that's definitely a good thing to try if you're one of those people who's tempted to rush into commitments.