Chaim87,
“So now you are moving the conversion from internet devices to smartphones to teens.”
Sorry, I wasn’t meaning to move the conversation – I had been asking both you and amom for examples of where smartphones or Web browsers were a necessity, and the example of communication and teens popped into my head. I’m glad you agree that they are not a necessity for teens, but the teens would surely disagree with you, and then they’d become you in this conversation and you would become me. And I’d love to see how you’d answer them.
On the subject of shifting the conversation – I have never maintained that a family should have no devices. I was surprised by your contention that a family “needs” multiple devices with Web browsers (that would need filtering), and I happily argued about whether devices are a necessity or a convenience for many posts, because having a proper perspective about this technology is important in decision making for how to deal with its risks and danger. The downside to this rabbit trail is that you and amom have pigeonholed my position into something that it’s not.
Here’s my question to you: let’s drop for now the question of whether having access to a Web browser is a necessity or not. I’ll spot you a Web browser. Maybe your doctor ordered you to play Wordle every day. Fine. Now, as part of your argument against TAG, you contended that filtering is prohibitively expensive because families need multiple devices with Web browsers. Why? Why not have a desktop or laptop computer to access the Web if needed, and then if you really need to tap around town rather than having a flip phone, get smartphones from a company like KosherCell, which come with no browser at all (hence no need for costly aftermarket filtering), but have dozens to hundreds of apps for ride sharing, public transit, banking, email, payments, etc. that satisfy all of your examples above about how people use phones in 2025? Then you’d only have a shaila of filtering one one device. Can you really tell me that having 8 devices in a household with Web browsers is truly a necessity in 2025? Or is it a convenience? Amom is trying to argue your side, but note that she doesn’t have a smartphone at all.
Note that there is a difference between devices that connect to the Internet and devices that supply an ability to browse the Web. My dumbphone accesses the Internet… to get OTA software and firmware updates and to get weather and maps updates for navigation. But it needs no costly aftermarket filtering because it lacks a Web browser.
“Now you bring danger in to the picture. That doesn’t change the facts though.”
Oh but it does. Because realizing there’s danger means one can act to reduce or eliminate the danger. And to be able to do that effectively, one has to take an honest assessment of what a need vs a convenience is.