The French President said he will ban social media use for kids under 15yo. What do you think of that?

@Anthony450 Too many parents delegate care of their children to phones and computers.

@emiliya I find it disheartening to see so many parents give iPads to their toddlers to keep them quiet. Those devices are designed to be addictive and starting at a young age can’t possibly be good (I’ve seen the absolute tantrums they throw if the parents try and take the iPad away for even a minute).

@Anthony450 I share this view. It is terrible for our children. We now expect technology to not only occupy them, but raise them. Both are very wrong. Our children are our duty and we must care for them and spend considerable time with them, without the use of computers or phones.

@Anthony450 @emiliya Are either of you parents?

@ElwoodBlues I am not, no. I work with children and parents on a regular basis, so that is where this is coming from, but I am not a parent myself.

@Anthony450 We knew our boys would, at some point, get seduced into the electronic world. We provided board games and blocks and books and tons of legos, but at some point the attractions of screens becomes overwhelming. They see their friends with iPods or nintendo DS or whatever; they get time on friends' screens, and they want a little screen time too. So we had screen time budgets and ways to earn screen time. And gaming was something they got thru. We're empty nesters now, and I'm sitting in the same room with their two gaming computers that they bought the motherboards and CPUs and graphics cards and PSUs and put together. Very popular for several years; no longer so interesting.

DOTA2 was their game; they'd get together with friends, a team of five, and do battle against other teams with bolts of magic. This included a shared voice channel where they'd give each other warnings, ask for help, joke and chat. Gaming became a very social experience for them.

@emiliya It's ridiculous. Back in my day, our parents used to delegate care of us children to the television set.
Television should be raising kids, not computers and phones.

@Punches Was this an attempt at humor?

@emiliya It's quite good as satire!

@Anthony450 agree but in todays world of increasing cost. There simply isnt time.

@ElwoodBlues Well now we already know that people that are neither parents nor even legal guardians know more about parenting than those of us who have had to do it.

@Anthony450 Working with kids and their parents might give a taste of what it is like but in your case, you can just walk away, without much or any repercussion, if you wanted.

Also for you and @emiliya, who happens to still be a kid herself thoughts like,

In theory, yes it is disheartening. HOWEVER, small kids can be very persistent and annoying.
So the parent has worked or tried to maintain the home all day, is tired, annoyed, has more stuff to do... they will do about anything for just a little peace and quiet.

I hear new parents talk like they are going to "put their foot down", end of story!
And the kids' actions say, "You better pick that sh*t back up!"

@Punches I am no kid.

@Punches What do know? What is your experience?

@emiliya Okay you are no kid, you are a mature, wise adult. Happy now?

BTW, when we get older and one of our elders calls us "kid", it is like, "WELLLL.... :D " and for a brief moment we don't feel 40 or even 50.

My experience - I have a son who is almost 30. Also some of my friends, I remember when they were expecting, they thought parenting would be easy, they were going to spend all this quality time, lay down the law when need be, just like the early television version of how families work...

But then when the child arrives, becomes a toddler, they find out it isn't like on TV where the parents are patient even though the kids messed up again, the kids feel regretful and ashamed of their actions, they learn their lesson, everyone is happy.

The thought is that kids might do something wrong ONCE but then learn their lesson - doesn't work like that.

@Punches This is about protecting our children. The social media sites are used by pedophiles who seek to engage children. It is common on Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and others. I have seen it on this site. Do you think children should be here? Children should not be left to use these sites. They are also exposed to other harmful things on social media. Social media takes them away from the family and it is a distraction. Why should the state not be concerned?