At the Aspen Ideas Festival, tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel shared his approach to screen time for his children. Thiel, an early investor in Facebook and co-founder of PayPal, limits his kids’ screen time to just 1.5 hours per week, a decision that comes at a time when there is growing concern about the impact of social media on children’s mental health.
Thiel’s comments were in response to recent announcement from US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who has called for warning labels on social media platforms to caution against the negative effects on children. Thiel acknowledged that while it is easy to blame Big Tech for societal problems, there is validity in the critique that social media executives themselves restrict their children’s screen time.
This trend among tech leaders is not limited to Peter Thiel. For example, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel also limits his son’s screen time to 1.5 hours a week and Google CEO Sundar Pichai has revealed that his middle-school-aged son does not have a cellphone. Pichai even employs methods like locking TVs with an “activation energy” to prevent excess screen consumption in his home.
As children start using screens at increasingly younger ages, the issue of balancing technology with other activities becomes more pertinent. The decisions made by tech leaders like Peter Thiel and others reflect a growing awareness of the potential negative effects of excessive screen time on children’s well-being and underscore the need for responsible use of technology in our daily lives.
