I have quite a few thoughts, but this really struck me:<p>> It’s not my kid. So I just did the right thing, I nodded in showing my understanding and I made sure I didn’t open my stupid mouth and say something dumb.<p>I’m not known to be quite on topics, ever. But when someone presents an opening like “hey I’m struggling with this, I think this is the problem”<p>I wouldn’t keep my mouth shut. I’d ask follow up questions. “Has this only started happening since X was introduced”. I’d also offer what / if anything I’ve seen — “yeah, we try to avoid X, saw something similar in our kid”.<p>You don’t have to tell them what to do and shouldn’t, but as part of a community, share experience.<p>Regarding the general premise — kids, phones and social media I’ve written on the subject:<p><a href="https://austingwalters.com/talk-to-yourself/" rel="nofollow">https://austingwalters.com/talk-to-yourself/</a><p>I think constant tech kills internal dialog, even with adults. But in children it probably breaks some cognitive development.<p>Put simply, your internal dialog probably helps reprogram you. Anyone, who’s read Gödel Escher Bach should be familiar with the idea, though the details are vague. I find that children who grew up with moderate to heavy social media use end up being far less thoughtful than those who read or play more often.