On Tuesday, opening statements begin in Oakland, Calif., for the latest social media trial. California and other states have brought a case against Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, saying the company “harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage and ultimately ensnare youth and teens.”
Meta denies the allegations. But you know who else has some issues with social media, screen time and the addictive nature of devices? Quite a few of the tech executives in Silicon Valley, at least when it comes to their own households.
“I don’t generally want my kids to be sitting in front of a TV or computer for a long period of time,” Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, once said. Interacting with people is good, but passively consuming content — “just going from video to video” — was not associated with “the same positive benefits,” he explained.
When Mr. Zuckerberg’s second child was born in 2017, he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, wrote in an open letter to her that “it’s important to make time to go outside and play.” Smelling flowers got a shout-out. So did picking up leaves. Nothing digital rated a mention.
Tech executives like Mr. Zuckerberg don’t talk about their own families often. When they do, however, they usually make clear their wariness of tech. For their children, tech does not play the same role it does for the rest of society: teacher, babysitter, all-purpose distraction and, increasingly, constant companion. It seems barely there at all.
Silicon Valley Executives Are Tech Fans. Just Not for Their Own Kids.
Submitted 9 hours ago by alyaza@beehaw.org to technology@beehaw.org