A Tech Rule That Will ‘Future-Proof’ Your Kids

Another rule: Don't let your kid share his face. Ever. For any reason.

If YouTube wants his face, just buy VPN so your kid can browse safely

What about onlinebanks? Also a hard no?
- Why will a kid need to open an online bank account?
- I feel like you don't understand the meaning of the word "ever."
- Don't know how this works in UK - In Poland there are other ways of signing into/registering in banking.
- Have an adult handle the account. Simple as. They set it up and manage the account to ensure their kids privacy to as much of a degree as they can.
Try reading this article, VPNs don't make you more private they just shift the trust model away from your ISP https://www.matyaskoszegi.com/post/vpns-your-privacy-savior-or-just-another-creepy-middleman
- You're missing the point. If your location is outside of UK YouTube and others don't ask for age verification. Noo need to send your child pics to some creepy middle man

VPNs as soon as they can tap a screen. Raise them with online pseudonyms they change annually. They don't learn their actual PII until they're at least 10. Can't give it out to strangers if you don't know it yourself!

I like and understand where you're going, but I can offer some actual experience. I learned my legal first name at 8.
It didn't go down well (I cried because the teacher didn't call my name and sent me to the school office to get it sorted) and I had a weird complex about the real name into high school. There's no rhyme or reason to the two names, so it is actually sort of surprising to pair the two. To this day I still go by the nickname I thought was my real name. My nieces and nephews still enjoy discovering my real name and calling me by it thinking it's a big secret they've discovered. I still have to explain it a hundred times a year to new coworkers and acquaintances.
- I might be slightly facetious in my comment.
  If I were to be slightly more earnest, I would say that the authoritarian concepts they learn from enforcement of arbitrary restrictions like "no screens in the bedroom" are far more harmful to their well-being than the information they could put on those screens.
  The best "tech rule" I could give instill in them is an understanding of the concept of "click bait". The sooner I can immunize them to paywalls and microtransactions, the better.
- ... Were you not in school before 8 years old?
Yet people would call me an insecure creepy troll if I said I have dozens of different nicknames on the same general spaces.
- What would compel you to announce the multitude of screen names you've used over the years? Never practice necromancy. A dead name stays dead; it is never to be referred to by the living.

My kid is 3 but this has been a big issue on my mind lately. I’ve read The Anxious Generation, The Screentime Solution, and The Art of Screentime over the past 9 months (with some other tech-adjacent books). My husband has also recently had a turn-around on tech for kids. I think our big thing is no personal devices for the little one for a long time. Family computer in a common area. Family cellphone that can be used when she’s not with us. Family tv in the living room. Family iPad that is used for specific tasks.

I think this is where my family is landing.
The anxious generation sucks. The author's even admitted that the screens aren't at fault, it's adults banning kids playing outside. Then then get anxious and depressed and they use their phones as a substitution for what we banned
- I did not enjoy the anxious generation book. There were a few small parts that I liked, but it’s why I started reading other books instead. My school district was all about the anxious generation and wanted us to read it. I did, but wanted a broader perspective.
I recommend reading this article if you’re worried about this https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/08/kids-smartphones-play-freedom/683742/
- Great article, thx
- I definitely plan to allow as much freedom as developmentally appropriate as she gets older. As it is now I try to make sure she has time to play independently and with friends and I try to not intervene too much when she has minor issues. She has even asked for privacy or that she wants to be by herself and I always respect that within reasonable limits.
I am having a really difficult time getting grandparents on board with this, it is infuriating.
I dont want them to be luddites but I dont want dependence until it is necessary for socialising and career etc.

Beats whatever cumbersome recipe governments worldwide are trying to do to "keep kids safe"^TM

https://archive.ph/xTgzh

"Phone goes in the locker before bed, Johnny."

"Johnny goes into the locker before bed, Phone."

If I wanted to raise superhumans, I'd simply not give them smartphones until they turned 18.

If you wanted to socially stunt them maybe. Please never do this.
- I know kids who's parents kept them away from computers growing up, where as I was allowed to play with computers and broke several by the age of 10.
  Now I'm good with computers and have made a good career out of it, those kids who weren't allowed around computers aren't very computer literate, their parents definitely did them a big disservice.
  Teach your kids a healthy ballance with new technology, but don't withhold it especially when their peers are all using it.
- As an old fart who witnessed social gatherings for decades, it looks like social stunting comes from smartphones rather than their absence.
Boomers haven't had them for quite a bit longer. Wouldn't say it helped much.
- Boomers got lead instead.
- IDK, they seemed pretty focused until fox news came along.
Sadly this doesn't work unless the entire community in your area also does the same. Because your kid will be the only one in their entire school without a phone and they will be constantly bullied, and socially ostricized.
I used to sneak beers as a teen. Your kids will be sneaking Internet.

Sounds stupid as fuck