In this age of seemingly addictive technologies, how do we protect our children from the harmful impacts of too much time online?

Many of our boys find peer connection, gaming, and entertainment instantly with a device. Laughter was once described as the shortest distance between two people—but now it’s been replaced with a handheld device.

Developmentally, devices are directly shaping childhoods—including identity formation and social belonging. Many of these technologies deliberately capitalise on innate human needs for commercial gain—which should send up a red flag for any parent.

At a recent talk my colleague Kristen Molloy and I gave, we listened to the frustrations of parents describing just how strong the bond between the phone and their child was. The resistance, the shouting, and the strength required to intervene reminded us of the character from "The Lord of the Rings"—Gollum, who becomes obsessed with the ring. Have our kids become the same? And how is their obsession shaping who they are becoming?

But it also occurred to me that technology has somehow inserted itself as a primary need. Many would know of Maslow’s theory of human needs (1943), in which he sets out primary needs (love, safety, food, sleep and so on). I argue that perhaps the greatest theft committed by tech giants is robbing children of their freedom by making them depend on technology as though it were a foundational need in our lives. Some of us are fortunate enough to remember a time when it........

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