I agree that independence and forming you own online social life is part of growing up. I think that if my parents installed apps on my phone that monitored my every move, it would push me to find loopholes and then act even more extremely than I would have before. I remember in middle school our internet was censored, yet kids eventually found a page that could prevent the school from censoring our internet use. The kids in my class ended up looking up vile things purely out of rebellion of the system intending to keep their activity safe. In this metaphor, parents who try too hard to monitor may end up pushing kids to do the things that were attempted to prevent in the first place.
If parents are doing a good job of keeping the kids engaged with the world around them, and allow them the freedom to make their own social life in person, the online use will become a social tool rather than a social crutch.
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