Culture & Entertainment

Low-tech parents include Steve Jobs, Chris Anderson

Canadian Living
Culture & Entertainment

Low-tech parents include Steve Jobs, Chris Anderson

You'd think that high-tech CEOs would have homes full of the latest and greatest devices both for themselves and your kids - but Nick Bilton's piece over at the New York Times paints a different picture. He had an "aha" moment when he was interviewing Steve Jobs around the launch of the iPad:
"So, your kids must love the iPad?" I asked Mr. Jobs, trying to change the subject. The company's first tablet was just hitting the shelves. “They haven't used it,” he told me. "We limit how much technology our kids use at home."
Since then, he's asked a number of CEOs and influencers in the tech field and found that many of them limit screen time more strictly than average parents (although I'm not entirely clear on who the average parent is in Bilton's piece). The reason cited are both fear of addiction to devices and concerns around inappropriate online content and bullying. This is a question that we're constantly struggling with at our house. I'd say we allow more screen time per week than we thought we would, but less than perhaps I actually had growing up in the 70s and early 80s with unlimited access to the 12 or so channels we got via our antenna. Of course, it's not the same thing; the most interactive the television got was the part at the start of Romper Room where they'd call kids' names out through the magic mirror. There's a world of difference between Cagney and Lacey and Grand Theft Auto (click through for why our writer shares why he lets his son play.) But I have to admit that's kind of the bar in my mind: More TV than I watched growing up, or less? Kids screen time and tech gurus What's the approach in your household?

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Low-tech parents include Steve Jobs, Chris Anderson

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