A LITTLE MORE CONVERSATION
Perhaps that’s what the age restriction is for – buying time for us to have conversations over what boundaries are appropriate.
At some point, our children will make their own decisions. The parenting approach therefore needs to shift from prescription to persuasion.
When they’re young, we make decisions for them. As they grow older, we spend less time issuing instructions and more time trying to convince them that those instructions existed for a reason. That conversation is harder than simply saying no.
Conversations require us to explain ourselves. They require us to listen. Occasionally they require us to admit that we struggle with the very habits we’re asking our children to avoid.
If we’re asking our teenagers to think critically about endless scrolling, perhaps they should also see us putting our own phones away during dinner.
If we want them to be intentional about screentime, it’s far more effective to be candid about our own personal struggles with screentime as adults, and set an example ourselves.
I don’t expect a single conversation, or even a ten-slide PowerPoint for that matter, to settle the question of where social media boundaries should lie. Not when, at the age of 46, I’m still navigating it myself.
Neither will legislation.
We don’t have all the answers right now against the pressures of the digital era, but if we can navigate this together with courage and openness, I think we might come to a better place. Maybe even to a place of connection between parent and child – even if it’s just sharing memes and funny reels.
Kelvin Kao is a business owner and father of five.
