this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2023
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I have a PC hooked up via HDMI to our TV, so my kid and I share our media. We can use the monitor, but we generally don't.
We watch videos together, as we generally have the same interests. His video-watching preferences include science, robotics, and video games. I'm okay with anything educational and/or thought-provoking.
He doesn't have any personal devices, so no phone or iPad or anything like that. I feel that anything portable that can be used privately is not great for a kid (for my kid, anyhow), but he doesn't mind.
He plays games on the Switch & Steam, but usually I'll require chores to be done & a certain amount of reading to be done for equivalent screen time (unless there's a limited-time in-game event or something). He's a very smart and lovely boy, and he rarely ever gripes over it.
It's in any parent's best interest to not only know what their kid likes, but also for them to participate. I've learned to play Splatoon, Minecraft, Enter the Gungeon, watched youTube channels, and learned all kinds of things about the content & mechanics in order to determine if it's okay for him to be playing/watching those particular things.
Seriously: get to truly know what your kid likes.
It greatly depends on the age.
For under 10's. I highly recommend the small tablets with educational games and videos. I had the homepage on the webbrowser set to PBS kids. Any other website was locked by parental controls. I also had Netflix with a kids account back when they had everything. For the games they wanted to play, I had to preview before they were installed.
The hardest age is 9-12. This is when they act all grown up but absolutely should not be online unsupervised. This is when they need room to explore what they are interested in. I open up the restrictions and allow them more of the world but routinely check to see what they are up too (an make sure they see what I am doing).
After 13, it's all about education, not control. There is no fucking way to stop a determined teenager from accessing places they shouldn't. The totally "locked down" school chromebooks are a great example. I am constantly impressed with the ingenuity to circumvent the controls. At this point, open discussions on all the issues online are key. They need to know about what criminals and perverts are up too. It's no longer blocking them, it's learning how to identify, avoid, and report them.
I also spend a few hours hanging out while they are gaming with my teenagers. It's let's me know what they are playing and showcase my incredible skill to their mocking.