Tech Free In Silicon Valley?
It appears that some tech insiders who were or are parents are pretty conservative about their children’s tech use. Tech companies often boast that their products are changing the world, creating a more connected and better informed society. Parents in the industry however suggest a caveat: it’s best to keep tech away from children — at least their children.
Steve Jobs, the late co-founder of Apple, restricted screen time in his family to the point where his own children couldn’t count themselves as part of the iPad’s early adopters. Microsoft founder Bill Gates banned mobile phones from his children until they turned fourteen, despite their complaints that other kids had phones.
Recently, the Business Journal reported that more top-level tech executives feel torn between their work and their worries about tech’s effect on their children. Kevin Systrom, father of an infant daughter, vowed to limit her child’s exposure to social media as she grows, despite his being the co-founder of social media behemoth Instagram.
Meanwhile, The New York Times wrote about a new digital divide, an inverse of the old worry about a lack of access to computers among the poor. Reportedly, affluent parents, especially those in Silicon Valley, are aim aiming to greatly limit their children’s access to devices, while tech is getting pushed more and more on poorer kids. There’s even a “dark consensus” forming among Silicon Valley parents leaning toward near tech abstinence for their children.
Naturally, concerns about children and tech usage have started to expand to the general public, and companies now offer tools for parents to help manage children’s time with technology. We have a regularly updated list of these family resources offered by top manufactures and service providers.
