Freedom v.s. Lock-down: Monitoring Child Technology

I would say this question is really meant for parents and guardians: How closely do you monitor your child's internet access?

I can honestly say that this is something I have thought about quite extensively, and I just cannot come to an accurate answer. Admittedly, I am not a parent yet so I have never had to address this personally, but as an individual with extensive interest in technology, I wonder how people address internet safety and security.

For instance, I have basically witnessed both sides of the spectrum in terms of monitoring. Some people believe that kids need "big brother" watching every single thing that a child does. This includes closely monitoring (or banning) social media, daily reading text messages, child blocks on sites, et cetera. I understand that many view this as necessary to protect children from situations they are not mature enough to handle. Trust me, I get it; it is a scary world. People want to protect children at all costs and see this as necessary to do this. However, I would argue this: could you be creating more problems than you are preventing. This method essentially says that you have zero trust in the children that you raised, and you cannot rely on your children to make good choices. There are good and bad things to being overprotective, but I caution you with this advice: "Overbearing parents create sneaky children".

On the other hand, I have seen where parents and guardians are willing to give near full autonomy to children; these parents monitor very little to nothing. Most of the time, these children have full privacy with their devices and have endless social media accounts nearly unmonitored. Some would see this type of parenting as horrendous and neglectful. "How can you not monitor your children," they say. I also get that point; children are often not mature to deal with the consequences of the actions they may take. On the other hand, these parents see that allowing their children freedom to be individuals may lead to them being more open with their parents. Basically, we are trusting you to make the right decisions while also trusting that the children feel the freedom to come to them with any problems. You may argue against this, but there is some logic here.

Just remember: it is not a black and white issue. I am sure most people fall somewhere in the middle of this scale as they try (often successfully) to walk the line between trusting and not being stupid. I am genuinely interested to see how parents view this issue and how they handle it. Feel free to discuss in the comments.