It’s been a struggle in my house for a long time.\u00a0 How to control technology in my kids hands.<\/p>\n
How old were your kids before they had a phone of their own?\u00a0 My oldest daughter may have been 13.\u00a0 But it was also a very basic phone.\u00a0 My youngest got hers earlier, simply because what one daughter got the other did too.\u00a0 \u00a0Looking back, not a smart idea.<\/p>\n
A phone doesn’t seem to be a luxury anymore, but a lifeline to our kids.\u00a0 They use it to stay connected to friends and family.\u00a0 They use it for school and learning.\u00a0 \u00a0It’s a lifeline.<\/p>\n
We don’t want to be irresponsible parents and just hand it over without knowing what they are doing or having some kind of control.\u00a0 Social media by itself is like a weapon of mass destruction at times.\u00a0 It can do irreparable\u00a0 damage to our kids.\u00a0 Hey, us too.<\/p>\n
Would you ever consider having your kids sign a user agreement before giving them a phone? Steve Jobs didn’t let his kids use the iPad he helped invent. Bill Gates banned his kids from getting phones until they were 14.<\/p>\n
What do we do as parents?\u00a0 How do we manage what our kids do online?\u00a0 \u00a0How do keep a bit of control without taking it away?<\/p>\n
What about a user agreement?<\/p>\n
A Hong Kong-based tech executive and TED speaker focused on privacy issues, was concerned about the dangers of giving her two children, aged 10 and 11, smartphones– and she found it impossible to resist her daughters begging and pleading.<\/p>\n
Instead of keeping it from them, she used her professional experience, and had them sign a “user agreement” for their phones.<\/p>\n
Sharing passwords.<\/p>\n
Asking for permission before signing up for social media accounts.<\/p>\n
There is a crash course in internet privacy – a reminder that everything we share online “is likely to be read, used and sold in ways we can’t begin to imagine”<\/p>\n
The agreement also covered etiquette and overuse.\u00a0 And a strong warning about the life long effect of posting embarrassing pics and posts online.<\/p>\n