It’s not really that hard with my son 13, I monitor what he’s doing discreetly using apps and just listening to what he’s doing. I make sure to explain to him what I find acceptable and I give him space and freedom to make mistakes but I’m also clear about the consequences. I don’t let him out of sight or ear shot.
My daughter 5 on the other hand is much tougher, she likes to watch slop and I have to limit it block shows or apps that have “free streaming” because the garbage is everywhere. She doesn’t understand or know the difference, she doesn’t see the overt government or corporate propaganda and low effort quality, she just sees bright colors and happy cartoons and signing. Here’s hoping my efforts aren’t for not.
Otherwise, just keep them off the black hole that is social media (Facebook/Instagram/tweeter and their clones) because there’s nothing good or redeemable there, limit YouTube and similar sites, take part in their lives while also giving the space to make decisions, don’t completely cut out AI but encourage creativeness using all of the tools available to them, encourage quality over quantity, instill healthy values, be flexible, and treat them like young humans. Treating them like young humans also means setting boundaries, being firm, standing your ground and being consistent. They’re humans not flowers. The values part is probably the hardest part to impart because what everyone themselves value doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing to everyone else and life is full of contradictions so they need to be able to decide who/what/when/where is the right choice and completely denying everything will blow up in your or their faces.
The values we teach them as parents is what will allow them to decide when is the right time to allow AI content as something acceptable and give them the knowledge for how to use it to their advantage. AI isn’t going away so don’t run away from it, but that doesn’t mean we have to accept the shit corporations are cramming down our throats or allow it to run our lives and raise our kids.
It’s a long war and a lot of people give up or declare victory too soon. Never give up, never surrender, because one day you will be old and AI will be running your life support machines and I hope someone’s lazy kid didn’t half ass train it because they grew up watching Cocomelon.
We had to use a family computer in a shared space. Not a tablet or phone that could be used unmonitored. Just because it wasn’t a technical measure doing the monitoring doesn’t mean we were unmonitored.
It’s not really that hard with my son 13, I monitor what he’s doing discreetly using apps and just listening to what he’s doing. I make sure to explain to him what I find acceptable and I give him space and freedom to make mistakes but I’m also clear about the consequences. I don’t let him out of sight or ear shot.
My daughter 5 on the other hand is much tougher, she likes to watch slop and I have to limit it block shows or apps that have “free streaming” because the garbage is everywhere. She doesn’t understand or know the difference, she doesn’t see the overt government or corporate propaganda and low effort quality, she just sees bright colors and happy cartoons and signing. Here’s hoping my efforts aren’t for not.
Otherwise, just keep them off the black hole that is social media (Facebook/Instagram/tweeter and their clones) because there’s nothing good or redeemable there, limit YouTube and similar sites, take part in their lives while also giving the space to make decisions, don’t completely cut out AI but encourage creativeness using all of the tools available to them, encourage quality over quantity, instill healthy values, be flexible, and treat them like young humans. Treating them like young humans also means setting boundaries, being firm, standing your ground and being consistent. They’re humans not flowers. The values part is probably the hardest part to impart because what everyone themselves value doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing to everyone else and life is full of contradictions so they need to be able to decide who/what/when/where is the right choice and completely denying everything will blow up in your or their faces.
The values we teach them as parents is what will allow them to decide when is the right time to allow AI content as something acceptable and give them the knowledge for how to use it to their advantage. AI isn’t going away so don’t run away from it, but that doesn’t mean we have to accept the shit corporations are cramming down our throats or allow it to run our lives and raise our kids.
It’s a long war and a lot of people give up or declare victory too soon. Never give up, never surrender, because one day you will be old and AI will be running your life support machines and I hope someone’s lazy kid didn’t half ass train it because they grew up watching Cocomelon.
I feel happy about growing up with the beginning of the internet…
We had to use a family computer in a shared space. Not a tablet or phone that could be used unmonitored. Just because it wasn’t a technical measure doing the monitoring doesn’t mean we were unmonitored.