A staged plan · locked-down now → autonomy by 18
Filters and screen-time limits work when kids are little — and quietly backfire right when the stakes get highest. The fix isn't more control. It's handing autonomy over on purpose, on a schedule you can both see — instead of losing it by attrition.
The evidence
Filters barely work as a shield. They explain under 0.5% of whether a teen encounters explicit material. But they do cut accidental exposure for young kids and buy you years to teach — so use them there, and never mistake them for the strategy.
Rules protect kids under ~12 and backfire on teens over ~16. Strict controls predict less problematic use in little kids and more in teenagers. The step-down isn't generosity — it's the mechanism.
Talking beats restricting — for harm. Restricting cuts screen time; coaching and co-using cut actual harm. This plan front-loads the skills and the conversations, then removes the guardrails on a published schedule.
Read the research behind the plan → — every figure, with primary sources.
The plan
Answer a few questions and get a graduated internet-access plan written for your kid — locked-down now, full autonomy by 18, every step in between laid out. You get the candid parent version; your kid gets a warm roadmap of their own to keep.
A glance at the schedule