Silicon Valley Parents Don’t Give Their Kids Screens. Should You Follow Their Example?

Silicon Valley Parents Don’t Give Their Kids Screens. Should You Follow Their Example?

By Movieguide® Contributor

New York University professor Dr. Jonathan Haidt likens social media to drugs and warns parents that those who create the technology don’t let their children use them.

“In case you needed any other reason to be suspicious, the people who make this technology don’t let their kids use it,” Haidt said in a video shared on Instagram. “They send their kids to the Waldorf school. Are we stupid for not realizing what they’re doing to us? Drug dealers don’t give their drugs to their kids. They give their drugs to your kids.”

A 2018 New York Times article revealed that Silicon Valley parents keep their kids away from screens. One nanny, Jordin Altmann, said that “Almost every parent I work for is very strong about the child not having any technical experience at all. In the last two years, it’s become a very big deal.”

“Usually a day consists of me being allowed to take them to the park, introduce them to card games,” she added. “Board games are huge.

READ MORE: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGIST ISSUES DIRE WARNING TO TODAY’S PARENTS

More and more parents are waking up to the dangers of screens.

“Parents are fed up,” Haidt explained. “Family life all around the world has turned into a battle over screen time. And everyone hates it. And they are coming for the companies.”

The psychologist dedicates his life to reversing the negative effects of phones on children, outlining his methods in his book The Anxious Generation which has spearheaded a movement that aims to “roll back a phone-based childhood by the end of 2027.”

“We think we can do it in three years,” Haidt said. He offers four simple “norms” that can make it happen:

1. No smartphones before 14: “Let them have a flip phone, but remember, a smartphone isn’t really a phone. They could make phone calls on it, but it’s a multi-purpose device by which the world can get to your children,” Haidt urged.
2. No social media before 16: “Social media is wildly inappropriate for minors…so no social media till 16,” he said.
3. Phone-free schools: “What we’re seeing is…the teachers all hate the phones, kids can’t learn when they’re on TikTok and video games and porn during class,” the professor said.
4. More free play: Haidt explained that we need “far more free play and independence in the real world,” and “we have to give kids back an exciting childhood.”

READ MORE: PSYCHOLOGIST URGES PARENTS TO ‘ACT TOGETHER’ TO KEEP KIDS OFF SMARTPHONES

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