Jonathan Haidt’s Book ‘The Anxious Generation’ Is Coddling The American Parent; Giving Them Clear, Simple & Wrong Explanations For What’s Ailing Teens

Moral panics never end well, and gloss over all the nuance and root problems as Mike Masnick mentioned. I will dump some thoughts on digital parenting as an exvangelical who was raised by fundamentalists…

My kids are 6 & 8. We use parental controls and keep things age appropriate unless they are clearly ahead in some areas. But our goal is to teach them to be emotionally and digitally literate at every stage of development.

Right now we’re discussing the risks of user-generated content and online anonymity. Many of their friends play Roblox, but we’ve waited. Same with unsupervised YouTube. Nothing is “forbidden,” though.

They’re currently playing Among Us because it’s multiplayer but has tighter communication/parental controls. Seems like good training wheels for online Roblox/Minecraft.

In the past we learned what adverting is. Both my kids can spot an ad and tell you what they’re selling and who the market is. That’s a great reason for a live TV subscription imo.

We also aren’t too worried about screen time. They’ve had iPads and TV basically always.

I worried about screen time at first, until I caught them looking up drawing/crafting tutorials on YouTube when they got bored with it (yes, they already circumvent our best efforts at times, which is also OK and expected, and as a former child myself, it makes me proud).

They both love books and reading, and collaborate on writing/illustrating comic books together.

No social media yet, but tbh I’m looking forward to introducing them to All the Things as they develop and show they’re capable of handling it.

Same goes for alcohol, swearing, etc. (already taught them most of the curse words so they can hopefully avoid getting in trouble with teachers/other parents. 😂)

In general, that’s our approach. Everything eventually, supervised at first, with diminishing oversight as they earn trust.

I know I’m still early, but so far it’s working out—but I’m under no illusions that they’ll “turn out alright.” Adolescence is hard, and so is adulthood. I just want to prepare them for it as best I can.