Colleagues in all levels of education have joined the chorus of parents expressing concerns about internet use by children. I understand it to be difficult to set device use boundaries with children at all ages, and the negotiation of these boundaries are tiresome for parents and teachers alike. 

The cost of unmonitored, open access internet use for children is too high to give up on negotiating these boundaries. One argument for relaxed device use is to allow children privacy; they need a device with open internet access just as much as the right to close their bedroom door. I suggest that the parallels between a child’s need to develop with access to privacy and unmonitored internet use is flawed. In fact, children need to learn that all internet use is not private at all. 

There are promising software products that filter internet use for children. The software also limits the controls of the device user (the child) and puts those controls in the hands of the gatekeeper (the caregiver). If a child is upset that their parents can read their messages, then they need to learn that far more sinister entities have access to their digital privacy than their parents.