legal age to surf - Page 2

Bill Gates keeps close eye on kids' computer time Tue Feb 20, 6:13 PM ET



Just because you're the daughter of Bill Gates does not mean you get to play on your computer all day long.

The Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) founder said his 10-year-old daughter, his oldest child, was not a hard-core Internet and computer user until this year, when she started at a school where the students use tablet computers for almost everything.

"She became very avid and discovered a lot of computer games, including one that runs on the Xbox 360 called Viva Pinata, where you take care of your garden," he told a business audience in Ottawa.

"She could spend two or three hours a day on this Viva Pinata, because it's kind of engaging and fun."

Gates said he and his wife Melinda decided to set a limit of 45 minutes a day of total screen time for games and an hour a day on weekends, plus what time she needs for homework.

Microsoft's new Vista software enables parents to control the Web sites their kids go to but also includes an audit log that records sites they have visited and whom they've been Instant Messaging.

"Up to some age, to be determined, it's very appropriate for a parent to get a sense of what they're seeing out there and be able to have conversations about it," he said.

"My son said, 'Am I going to have limits like this my whole life?', and I said, 'No, when you move away you can set your own screen limits'," Gates recounted, to audience laughter.


https://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070220/tc_nm/microsoft_gates_da ughter_dc_1

IMO, kids staying at home with parents need to be monitored. There are various other things that are being taken care of at that age and computer usage should be one of them. However, once kids are old enough to handle a few things on their own and are not dependent on parents for everything can be given some independence. As long as kids have time limits and curfew timings for other things, they need to have a schedule for computer time as well. However, once they are given some freedom it is to be expected they will use their own judgement to think what should be the ideal time spent and what should the internet be used for. Beyond that, there's not much parents can do about controlling.

I think upto the age of 15, they should be carefuly monitored and after that upto the age they move onto University, they should be given some independence but still under check from time to time.