Early on in my parenting journey a girlfriend sent a post that said, “To say all screen time is the same is like saying all paper time is the same.” Or like saying that reading this masthead is the same quality of paper time as reading New Idea or opening a utility bill, or reading philosophy or folding origami.

Not all “paper time”is equal.

It is obvious how ridiculous that argument is. Surely an 11-year-old reading The Day My Butt Exploded is not the same quality of paper time as reading Harry Potter. It is the same for screen time. Not all screen time is equal.

Psychologists and parenting experts have used analogies galore to explain this to parents, schools and governments. Like the nutritional pyramid, Jocelyn Brewer refers to “Digital Nutrition” with the “good screen time” at the bottom, where wholegrains are and the “sometimes screen time” at the top with lollies and chocolate.

While YouTube does have some educational videos and helpful “instructionals”, it also has a lot of toxic video content. I’m talking about misogynistic content, violent content and young people doing really stupid stuff that our kids then try to replicate, and I mean more........

© The Sydney Morning Herald