What's your long term game plan with that? At some age, they'll get a device, are you just hoping for the best when that happens? Or "you pay for it, it's your problem" or what?

We limit device time and I try to be as involved as I can, we ask them what they're doing, we try to play games with them, etc. Every day. We keep repeating the mantra about not talking to strangers online, and to tell us if they talk to you. Honestly, I think it's other stuff that will make the difference, spending time with them every day, talking to them about everything, and encouraging active participation in real world stuff like sports and some volunteer work for the homeless through our church.

I don't disagree with the "no internet" idea exactly but at some point they'll be exposed to it and the way things are, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if a smartphone was required equipment for junior high or highschool within the next 5-10 years. Already our schools send us just about everything online, we have regular emails with the teachers and they use google docs and other platforms for online sharing within the school.

>What's your long term game plan with that?

That they're going to be more mature when that happens because they've demonstrated that they weren't ready just yet.

It is difficult to demonstrate your readiness when you've never been allowed to use it. Access + monitoring and support is a better strategy than hiding technology from your kid. Unless you are Amish, your kids are going to get dropped into the deep end.

Like all the old people on facebook demonstrating that their decades of life experience has taught them to recognize obvious bullshit..?

That strategy is proven ineffective with abstinence only sexual education, and I'm sure the exact same problems would arise applying to online access.

There's a pretty wide spectrum between full-blown free-for-all and full-blown Amish-mode. In particular, routers/firewalls with parental controls (whether network-wide or by MAC address) are increasingly common in homes nowadays, even if those features go unused. A whitelist would be pretty effective here for outright blocking.

All this does is create adults with the same problem. You have to introduce them to the world (including the bad parts) slowly, not shield them from it until they move out.

Just on google, children are a few clicks and a word or two away from hardcore porn. I agree that a parent who gives their child open internet access has to accept their kid will probably see disturbing things before they’re ready, or strictly restrict and monitor everything. I’m not even sure how feasible or reasonable it is to try.