Despite building an increasingly screen-focused world, tech billionaires and executives are keeping their own children away from the tech they helped create.
As far back as 2010, Apple cofounder Steve Jobs told a New York Times reporter his kids had never used an iPad and that “we limit how much technology our kids use at home.”
Since then, excessive device use among children has grown more common, especially as busy parents turn to screens to find some temporary peace. The trend has accelerated so much that some young children accustomed to extensive screen time have been dubbed “iPad kids.” On average, children in the U.S. ages 8 to 18 spend 7.5 hours per day watching or using screens, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
At the same time, Silicon Valley billionaires and executives have increasingly sought to limit how their own families use technology and for how long, partly in response to the rise of time sucking social media and short-form video.
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan is among those taking a cautious approach. Mohan, who has three children, said he and his wife try to limit the time his children spend on platforms like YouTube.
