Would you feel comfortable dropping off your kid, by himself, in a foreign country with no supervision?
That's how you should view being online. When they are very young, they should be attached at the hip. As they age, and (hopefully) mature and develop the capacity for navigating the dangers and the judgement to make good choices, they should be granted increasing levels of freedom.
Most importantly, however, is to remember that you and you alone are the one responsible for the well-being of your child. Nothing matters less than what other parents or other kids are doing, or what schools, governments and "experts" recommend. At the end of the day the responsibility for your child is yours alone. Spending a lot of time with your child and getting a good gauge on just how much freedom and responsibility they can handle is absolutely critical to this process. In my opinion the fact that so many don't have the time to spend with their child, because of work or other obligations, or choose to outsource the raising of their child to a school or daycare program because they see other people doing it, is why our society is turning out so many broken people. If you really take an interest, your child will pick up on that - just like they will pick up on it if you don't.
That's how you should view being online. When they are very young, they should be attached at the hip. As they age, and (hopefully) mature and develop the capacity for navigating the dangers and the judgement to make good choices, they should be granted increasing levels of freedom.
Most importantly, however, is to remember that you and you alone are the one responsible for the well-being of your child. Nothing matters less than what other parents or other kids are doing, or what schools, governments and "experts" recommend. At the end of the day the responsibility for your child is yours alone. Spending a lot of time with your child and getting a good gauge on just how much freedom and responsibility they can handle is absolutely critical to this process. In my opinion the fact that so many don't have the time to spend with their child, because of work or other obligations, or choose to outsource the raising of their child to a school or daycare program because they see other people doing it, is why our society is turning out so many broken people. If you really take an interest, your child will pick up on that - just like they will pick up on it if you don't.