Tech insiders limit their children’s technology use, and countries are now banning social media for minors.

But abstinence is neither practical nor wise: opting out means opting out of real power.

The answer is intentional use, built not on willpower but on choice architecture.

No man can resist the song of the sirens. Their music is so enchanting that every sailor who hears it steers toward the rocks and is destroyed.

Odysseus knew this. So when his ship approached their island, he didn’t try to resist. He had his crew plug their ears with beeswax — and he had himself chained to the mast.

I was reminded of this watching the new film The Odyssey the other day, and it struck me that in those chains lies the key to our freedom in the world of modern tech.

The Chefs Who Don’t Eat the Food They Cook

The first thing to accept is that there is something dangerous about tech. One piece of evidence is both simple and alarming: the people who know technology best are famously the most cautious about using it, particularly where their children are concerned. As early as 2010, Steve Jobs famously told a reporter that his kids hadn’t used the newly released iPad: “We limit how much technology our kids use at home.” In 2025, former Facebook executive Sarah Wynn-Williams testified before the U.S. Senate that Meta executives had told her their own teenagers weren’t allowed on Facebook or Instagram.

This instinct is now being reflected at the social level. Australia became the first country to ban social media for children under 16 in December 2025, and Denmark, France,........

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