Yes! I'd call this preparation for life.

Education and believably honest offers of support are needed to navigate the world, which is ugly and evil in some parts. Restrictions are really just counterproductive because curious young people are drawn to restricted stuff, and age restrictions build a sense of 'us (the young) against them (the adults)', so it's hard to convince that you actually offer honest support. Restrictions also focus on the bad parts, while we should instead focus on the good parts, the advantages of a global network of anything, which is totally amazing. Restrictions are counter productive.

Humans need to learn to live here, and it starts when we're young and curious.

That's the only way that can work in the long term.

Also have a 15 year old, same talk. Seemed to be just fine.

Holy Kimchi on a Popsicle Stick!

I feel validated!

Bless you the holy spirit of Bad Religion.

How do you know you’re not losing?

How many years of evidence do you have?

I think I won my battle against being addicted to games… but I don’t go back to find out.

I'd view that as more of a works for me argument than necessarily actionable. Social dynamics are complex and personality, status, etc, plays into which relationships end up mattering, being convincing, etc. I.e. some children bond closer to a grandparent not because parents have failed in any way at honest conversations.

You don't know you lost until after it happens. Then it's too late.

3 kids, same honest conversations, 2 where it worked and works very well, 1 where it is a constant battle.

So sorry but no, the platforms are addictive and not all the kids can resist against an armada of statisticians ensuring the systems stay addictive only through honest conversations.

By the way, this would mean you could solve all the addiction issues if it would be working...

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I remember there being an experiment where parents were placed in a room with some toys their children were allowed to play with and some toys their children weren't allowed to.

They measured the parents perceived level of control against their actual level of control by seeing if they stopped their children from playing with the researchers laptop that had been left in the corner of the room.

Part of me wonders if it was apocryphal, I'm not sure if a test like that would get past an ethics committee (at least since laptops existed)

Likewise, the state abdicating its responsibility and placing the burden solely on parents isn't fair either, and that is exactly the environment we currently find ourselves in.

Yes, let's allow cigarette manufacturers to target children, and let's the capable parents teach them. Same for porn, alcohol, drugs. If your kids have issues, it's your fault, not society's. /s

And make sure you do it at their friend’s houses too, and on every public device, and make sure they never leave that locked down app bubble ever.

and delete the web browser?

It very much is. Free VPNs almost always have some sort of catch. E.g. HolaVPN users agree in the ToS to become an exit node for other VPN users: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hola_(VPN)

If social media is so compelling, then teens almost certainly will take whatever steps are necessary to access it.

Because social media is so easy to cut out you dont need to ban it or its so addictive you do?

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