There are degrees of monitoring. This is basically my approach:
That is basically it. A lot of it is being around, available and approachable. It’s not perfect, but it has several layers of protection, and is built around creating trust and teaching valuable media skills.
If I had to pick one, I’d say the ‘no internet devices in bedrooms’ would be the most valuable one. Because of that, I know what games my kids play, they can deconnect at night, and it’s fairly easy to enforce.
The larger danger is the erosion of kids’ privacy. People are so panicked about all the dangers out there, and there are so many monitoring tools available to parents and educators, that it’s no wonder that kids develop trust issues and/or are afraid to take up responsability.
I say this as a dad of two teenagers: the kids are allright. Love them, hug them, talk to them, show interest in their lives. Don’t use surveillance as a substitute.
Taking the logic too far, I think. There is also a business interest in selling you storage and storage devices, it’s not just Hollywood calling the shots.
Of course, in a totalitarian system (North Korea style) the ownership of storage media will probably be tightly regulated and controlled, but that’s a wholly different scenario.
So it’ll end up being a platform of trolls and bigots just screaming into the void and paying for the privilege. What a fabulous idea.