| I have quite a few thoughts, but this really struck me: > It’s not my kid. So I just did the right thing, I nodded in showing my understanding and I made sure I didn’t open my stupid mouth and say something dumb. I’m not known to be quite on topics, ever. But when someone presents an opening like “hey I’m struggling with this, I think this is the problem” I wouldn’t keep my mouth shut. I’d ask follow up questions. “Has this only started happening since X was introduced”. I’d also offer what / if anything I’ve seen — “yeah, we try to avoid X, saw something similar in our kid”. You don’t have to tell them what to do and shouldn’t, but as part of a community, share experience. Regarding the general premise — kids, phones and social media I’ve written on the subject: https://austingwalters.com/talk-to-yourself/ I think constant tech kills internal dialog, even with adults. But in children it probably breaks some cognitive development. Put simply, your internal dialog probably helps reprogram you. Anyone, who’s read Gödel Escher Bach should be familiar with the idea, though the details are vague. I find that children who grew up with moderate to heavy social media use end up being far less thoughtful than those who read or play more often. |