The existence of YouTube does not make reading and writing less valuable. It gives children a constant companion who is responsive, preternaturally so, to their desires and curiosity.

(I devote a bit of brain space—not too much but I pray not to little—to making sure that constant companion does not make the entire world look like a pale imitation of itself, which would be wrong but could easily look accurate to the subjective experience of a child.)

“Any parenting tips?” I do not have the constant fights about screen time some parents report, do not know how much of that is due to decisions I’ve made, and have one regret: we went two years without a TV due to moving and I should have made that permanent versus “completing.”

Kids’ tablets are approaching obsolescence / physical destruction and I’m strongly considering “Congratulations on growing up; here is an Ubuntu box and real power. You can choose to buy yourself a tablet in the future if that rates as important to you.”

(Completing the living room. Why does it have a TV? Eh it’s a living room and I was ticking boxes #1648 of construction project. Nothing about our life improved as a result of that but I also don’t want to “punish” basically normative and innocent behavior by tearing out.)