Google Family Link - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: MrMobodies
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 22, 2021, 09:41:35 pm
content: Just found this in the newspaper today.Quotehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Family_LinkQuoteI don't remember restrictions like that in my time over 20 years ago and was pretty much free to do what I like as long as it was reasonable and didn't cause trouble.If I was around 10 and that was done to me I'd go bezerk and be very upset especially if I couldn't factory default the device to gain control. I'd just hand it back and rather not want it than it being manipulated and restricted by the parents through Google and spied over everything I do by the parents. I'd possibly save up for one so it doesn't belong anybody to put their hands on it. Yes I want my space and privacy thank you very much that I remember doing so at around that age and with anything given to me.What do you think?Could you stand being restricted like that with electronic stuff given to you at around that age?Just thought about the title:Find a balance... Maybe educate and talk to the children more about their device and safety?

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 22, 2021, 10:29:07 pm
content: QuoteYou probably had some restrictions. Not going out after whatever time, not watching TV until 4am, etc. This is just the same and I bet if the current social media stuff was around then you'd've been told not to stay up all night browsing it.Quoteaka throw a tantrumQuoteYou could afford to blow $100 or so at age 10? Hmmm.Anyway, it's a real problem. An acquaintance recently asked me for help to restrict his internet after 8pm because his grandson was staying up all night playing in the intertubes. Not sure how old he is, but perhaps a bit less than 10. They'd tried unplugging the router and that kind of thing, but the kid would sneak down and plug it in again. It was a bad enough problem that the adults were willing to be cut off in order to stop the kid doing the internet equivalent of pissing off down the pub instead of going to bed.You might have noticed that the Chinese have just slapped a 3-hour per week limit on young kids.

author: MrMobodies
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 22, 2021, 11:46:05 pm
content: Quote from: dunkemhigh on September 22, 2021, 10:29:07 pmI wouldn't make myself tired on the week day as I'd be in trouble with the school. I got tired at the end of the day and settled down but not too early depending on how I was feeling. I use to stay up on the Fridays night to Sunday morning to see some movies I think did finish at about 4am in the morning.I just had laptop with a few old computers but no phone, not much you could with them back then other than to make calls and seemed expensive at the time and no reason why I would want one. When I got dialup, the only restriction was that it was 1p a minute, then AOL came along with unlimited (actually had to reconnect on the 59th minute of the hour at first or I'd be charged at first) I spent as long as I liked on the weekends at night but never on the weekdays as that would make me tired for the next day. I remembered there were chat rooms (silly talk I found in many of them) and so on but didn't really interest me apart from a few lan games but I not good at those (if that's similar to social media stuff).I remembered a boarding school I stayed at where there were some students who would spend a lot of their money talking to each other in the same building or virtually next door to one another all night from their beds load on these dot matrix phones that the staff had to tell them to stop due to the complaints from those trying to sleep.QuoteYes, why not? let them know how I feel and hand the device back (useless to me) or they may never know and do the same with other stuff.So better not give me anything if they feel that way but I had no restrictions like that on anything like that.I suppose there would be restrictions if I didn't manage myself.QuoteYou could afford to blow $100 or so at age 10? Hmmm.I'd try to save up my money if I really wanted something.Anything given to me wasn't restricted and I did what I like with them.QuoteGood point there... that's a shame that some can't control themselves.Never knew that about the Chinese but per week doesn't seem much.I know someone who more han 10 years ago restricted their broadband using the router at a certain time but their children still stayed up over the school nights talking to their friends and playing games, watching films but by tethering their phones and racked up about £600 to £800 at a time.

author: eti
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2021, 12:46:15 am
content: Quote from: MrMobodies on September 22, 2021, 09:41:35 pmChildren submit to their parents authority, since THEY ARE CHILDREN and don't yet know the ways of the world, and what your parents say GOES, zero pandering. A ten year old with a decent, balanced upbringing wouldn't throw a tantrum, he'd have been brought up with a sense of respect for his elders.They're children - they don't get to dictate to the ones who bore them. These are the very early stages of an indication as to what has gone drastically wrong in Western, overly liberal society.Poor parenting blames the child, whereas the blame lies at the door of delinquent, irresponsible parents. It doesn't matter ONE BIT what "everyone else" in society does - this is YOUR CHILD, not society's child - you either want to raise your children in a wholesome and respectful manner, where they see their place in the hierarchy, and grow to respect you and to respect those who are in control, or you want them to dominate you (and then you'll likely blame them, despite you being the parents.)This is a Christian principle, but then we live in a GOD-hating secular crazy world, so no surprise.Before you go:Yes, I'm a Christian, and I love GOD, and to save you the tedious time and effort of rattling off some tedious, parroted rhetorical stereotypes about Christians and "the imaginary man in the sky", you may as well realise I've heard it (and ignored it) all before, day after day, 10,000x over. Nothing you will say to mock will be new, or will shock or surprise me, so if you want to go ahead and wear your keyboard out and stress yourselves out, I can't stop you, but won't react - you have every right to.

author: MrMobodies
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2021, 01:18:22 am
content: Quote from: eti on September 23, 2021, 12:46:15 amI have nothing against you being a Christian or any religion.Some people in religious groups that I spoke to in the past were proud of of their beliefs and I have seen them help others out there in trouble in their time of need and they go and pray at their church.They helped me out for a year or two until I moved and I have seen them support one another.I hope I didn't insult anyone here on my time on this board.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2021, 01:24:00 am
content: Quote from: eti on September 23, 2021, 12:46:15 amAh, yes, people are not good parents because they're not Christians. Absolutely checks out.

author: eti
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2021, 01:27:27 am
content: Quote from: Monkeh on September 23, 2021, 01:24:00 amI’m sorry I didn’t mean to imply that. Overall the world is on a downward slide and distant from GOD, so this is the underlying reason. Of course excellent parents exist who are not Christian.

author: eti
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2021, 01:28:06 am
content: Quote from: MrMobodies on September 23, 2021, 01:18:22 amThank you, I value that.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2021, 01:34:50 am
content: Quote from: eti on September 23, 2021, 01:27:27 amAnd yet you've just implied it again, that not sharing your belief makes people lesser.I'll step away now seeing as this is against the rules for good reason.

author: eti
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2021, 01:35:46 am
content: Quote from: Monkeh on September 23, 2021, 01:34:50 amIt’s true, and denying it doesn’t make it less so. But yeah let’s move away from this. Take care.

author: BradC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2021, 01:53:42 am
content: Quote from: MrMobodies on September 22, 2021, 09:41:35 pmI was restricted at around that age because the computer was in the family room and I wasn't supposed to be out of my room after bed time. Now they can smuggle the computer under the covers with them.We occasionally have to put restrictions on our 7 year olds iPad. Not often, and more as a reminder than anything. We've been struggling with it for a few months now because after a bit of a family issue he tends to hide inside Minecraft as an escape, so we do cut him some slack but there's a delicate balance to be struck and time restrictions help us manage that.We all have our coping mechanisms.

author: ejeffrey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2021, 02:53:57 am
content: Quote from: MrMobodies on September 22, 2021, 09:41:35 pmFinding a balance is about letting kids make some choices and not others in an age and individual appropriate fashion so that they can both learn to become independent while avoiding unnecessary harm and making sure other needs are taken care of.Of course parents should educate their kids about device safety and responsibility while also exercising some control over those devices until they demonstrate that they are able to do so responsibly with less oversight.I have no opinion on whether this tool is good or appropriate. Presumably it will be useful for some and not others. Some people might even use it poorly or ineffectively but the idea doesn't seem fundamentally bad.What you are advocating for (no restrictions! Absolute freedom!) Is both a delusional fiction that never exists and nothing like finding a balance or responsible parenting.By the way this applies whether the device was "given" to the child or they "bought" it. A 10 year old saving up to buy a phone is fine but it absolutely does not mean they can use it however and whenever they want.

author: magic
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2021, 08:40:58 am
content: Quote from: Monkeh on September 23, 2021, 01:24:00 amIt truly does. Elementary logic teaches that if correlation doesn't imply causation then absence of causation doesn't imply absence of correlationIndeed, most atheists are so insistent on spiting Christians that with the religion they have abandoned all sanity too.And most Christians are so insistent on getting along with the former that they will gradually abandon every principle to fit in.TL;DR: we live in a crazy world and there is nothing you can do save for waiting till the New Sodom burns down

author: thinkfat
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 23, 2021, 08:55:50 am
content: I use Family Link on my two young ones tablet computers. They're 5 and 8 and can not yet be expected being able to self-regulate their media intake. If I gave them free reign over their gadgets, they'd neglect other important stuff they should be doing, sports, playing with friends, learning to interact with other human beings, solving conflicts sensibly and non-violently.Gradually these restrictions will be removed of course, but for now, Family Link is the right approach for them.