Cameron Moll’s Post

View profile for Cameron Moll, graphic

Executive Design + Leadership ᴇꜱᴛᴅ 1999 / Meta Alumni / Authentic Jobs (acquired)

Recently with a group of 18-30 year olds we had the opportunity to share our family's mobile phone contract for their feedback and critique. Honestly I expected their feedback to highly critical that it was overbearing, outdated, and unnecessary. This was written 10 years ago and it's in need of an update. On the contrary I was surprised at how positively they responded. Overwhelmingly positive. "This is excellent!" and "I wish I had this before I got my first phone." Now as adults, they seemed to grok the value of this guidance better than ever. Occasionally we underestimate the importance of our role as parents and technologists in transitioning children into phone ownership — and all of the goodness and malice that comes with this — erring on their right to choose over our responsibility to gently, carefully, and intentionally set them up for greater success. We may underestimate how much they actually need and want our guidance despite what they say otherwise. Here are 10 principles from our contract summarized. Our 5th son will be the next and last in our family to sign this contract when he turns 14 in a few years. And hopefully we've updated it by then!

  • 1. Mom & Dad have the final say on your use of technology until you’re 18.
2. Create don’t just consume.
3. Real life is better than any photo, status update, story, or video you’ll ever find online.
4. You should be in full control of the technology at your fingertips. It should not control you.
5. Don’t say anything through your phone that you wouldn’t say in person.
6. Don’t use this device to view/share inappropriate photos or videos of others, or of yourself.
7. Only post a message, photo, or video if you want the entire world to have access to it forever.
8. Always answer calls from Mom or Dad.
9. Be where you are. Use good phone etiquette at meals, movies, on a date, etc.
10. Learn to put away your phone and overcome the uncomfortable feeling of striking up a conversation with those around you.

What are those immediate items you know you are going to be updating, Cameron Moll? Also interested in how you counted infractions and followed up about compliance as Jerzy asked earlier.

Jerzy Rajkow-Krzywicki

hardworksmart.com ← my newsletter ◆ Podcaster ◆ Videographer ◆ Senior (Agile) Project Manager ◆ Productivity Consultant ◆ PKM practitioner (Obsidian, Roam, Logseq, Notion) ◆ Head of Administration @ Gide Warsaw

3w

If it's a smartphone, you already lost the battle. BTW, how do you enforce points 4 and 6? Because you know, paper bears anything, but enforcing what's written is another story. So? :)

Jeremy Bird 🇺🇸🇧🇷

UX Director | 7 yrs UX Management | 14 yrs UX | 22 yrs Design

3w

I LOVE this Cameron. We’re just getting into teenage land so I’ve been thinking a lot about this topic. So far just my oldest (13) has a phone with parental controls (Troomi). But my daughter is chomping at the bit for a phone as nearly all her friends have a phone of some kind. I’m curious to get your take on a couple questions: 1. You mentioned wanting to update the contract. What would you update or add? 2. When your kids signed this contract, did they get a full unrestricted smartphone? Or was there an intermediate step with a phone with parental controls? (Gabb, Troomi, Bark, etc). I’ve been going back and forth constantly between the desire to train responsible phone use and the desire to not give them too much too soon. Curious on your reflections on the topic. Thanks so much for sharing!

Jonathan Cutrell

Senior Engineering Manager - 15+ years of experience

3w

I love the assertions here, but my concern is that there are only a few that aren't anything more than value statements. 1, 5, 6, and 8 work ok. How do you know when they have "breached"? I think this is how we end up with the whole family having phones out at important events - we all may agree on these things conceptually, but behavior is a different story.

Brad Frost

Principal at Big Medium, design system consultant, web designer/developer, speaker, writer, musician, and artist

3w

I know I've talked to you about this before, but I bring your phone contract up a whole lot. It was very prescient!

John Harrison

Sales and enablement leader | LinkedIn Top Voice | Business Advisor | Strategist | Passionate mentor and coach | Board Member | Advisory Board Member | Infinitely curious | Musician

3w

With the exception of the first point, adults should use these same guidelines.

Brian Miller

Experience Research, Consumer Insights & New Product Innovation

3w

#5, #9 and #10 are rules that many adults I know need to embrace.

Ty Hatch

Product Leader | 15+ years building user-focused B2B and Enterprise SaaS solutions | Driving business value through data-informed strategies and cross-functional collaboration | Balancing user needs with company goals

3w

I used this with all my kids! It provided us with some great conversations and helped them. Of course we had a couple of challenges with it, but you did such a great job putting this together! I’ve repeatedly recommended it to friends over the years. And still will!

Simon I'Anson

Product Design Director | Interaction Design | CX | UX

3w

There's a lot of call for the banning phones for children under 16. Unfortunately, the genie is out of the bottle. They're going to have a smart phone at some point in their lives. They are far more likely to abide by the rules and view the phone as a privilege that can be withdrawn when younger than at 16. At least start them off on the right track. I believe this approach (similar to the one we've taken with our 11 year old) is the right one. 👍

Sajad Sepehri

It All Starts With a Few Words

3w

That is great micro-social contract. I loved it. A suggestion: I would change the principle 4 into a less idealistic and more realistic one: You should always remember that technology has control over you in some aspects, so it's important to be aware and able to take back control when needed. I'm not a native English speaker and I'm sure it can be phrased a lot better. 🙏

See more comments

To view or add a comment, sign in

Explore topics