Toying With Our Futures
At the Aspen Ideas Festival in June 2024, Peter Thiel was interviewed by Andrew Ross Sorkin. He volunteered information in response to a question, “If you ask executives of social media companies how much screen time they let their kids have — there’s probably an interesting critique one could make. For my own kids (3.5 and 5), its an hour and half per week of screen time.”
Thiel’s interview screenshots might turn him into meme comedy material by Gen Zers, but he knows very well what big tech is doing to our younger generations.
Thiel confirms what we all know about tech billionaires. They have very strict restrictions on children’s tech use.
The Secret Ways Of Tech Billionaires
Its been long known that there’s a contradiction between tech industry leaders’ professional lives and their parenting practices, highlighting a tendency among them to limit their own children’s exposure to technology.
Why do parents like Peter Thiel, who profit from widespread technology use, often restrict screen time for their own kids? It suggests a potential awareness of negative impacts that contrasts with the push for technology in education and society.
Read more HERE.
No Love For Humanity
If tech-free schools like Waldorf are the most sought-after in Silicon Valley, it shows that billionaire tech parents are shielding their children from technology.
Then here’s a question we must be asking, “What aren’t they telling us about the urgent and aggressive way Big Tech is being embedded into public schools, homes, and communities across the world?”
The Reality in America
Here is the status of the use of tech in homes and public places from 2021 in America, as per the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (published in the Condition of Education reports around 2022-2023).
– 97% of children ages 3–18 had home internet access.
– 93% had access through a computer (e.g., desktop, laptop, or tablet).
– Only 4% relied solely on a smartphone for home internet (down from 6% in 2019).
– This was up from 95% overall in 2019 and 92% in 2016.
– Disparities persist by parental education: 98% access through a computer for kids whose parents have a bachelor’s or higher, vs. 78% for those with parents who have less than a high school credential.
Read more HERE.
The Interview of Peter Thiel
Here’s the interview, I’ve timestamped it at: 49:36.
If you want to specifically want to watch his answer about how he puts limits on his kids’ screen times.
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