Jim Priest is CEO of Goodwill Industries of Central Oklahoma and can be reached at jpriest@okgoodwill.org.

I’m so old I remember a world before cell phones. A world where, if you were away from home and needed to make a call, you used an ancient invention called the “pay phone.” I’m so old that when I was a kid I used to check the coin return on pay phones as I passed by, hoping I might find a forgotten dime.

Being this old, it’s understandable that I harbor some antiquated opinions about kids and cell phones. But would you expect my opinions would also be held by Bill Gates, the godfather of technology? Here’s a quick and surprising summary of how Bill and Melinda Gates handled cell phones with their own kids:

No cell phones until the kids were 14 years old.

A set time each evening after which there was no screen time.

No cell phones allowed during family meals.

Gates says his kids complained that “everyone has a cell phone” but he and Melinda held to the age 14 rule. He also cited evidence that the blue light emitted from the screens of electronic devices interferes with sleep as the reason for the cell phone curfew. And dinner? Apparently, the Gates value family discussion and interaction over hyper connectivity.

And Gates isn’t alone. Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, said in 2014 that his kids hadn’t used an I-Pad (made by Apple) because “we limit how much technology our kids use at home.”

Could Gates and Jobs be parent tech models as well as tech moguls?

If you’re a parent and you’re not struggling with questions about your child’s use of cell phones and social media, you’re not paying enough attention. To stay informed, parents should find reliable information about their children’s use of cell phones and social media. One good source is Common Sense Media (commonsensemedia.org) which defines itself “the leading independent nonprofit organization dedicated to helping kids thrive in a world of media and technology. We empower parents, teachers, and policymakers by providing unbiased information, trusted advice, and innovative tools to help them harness the power of media and technology as a positive force in all kids’ lives.”

The site has hundreds of helpful articles and reviews as well as guidance for parents seeking to set realistic limits.

One common sense article on the site, written by Caroline Knorr, succinctly sets forth “three places families should make phone free”:

The dinner table

The bedroom

The car

The car was an interesting and surprising inclusion. Knorr says allowing family members to use cell phones in the car disrupts natural conversations that might occur between parent and child during the ride. Good point.

And it works both ways. Parents need to take a cell phone break too. It might surprise you to know most kids surveyed said they wished their parents spent less time on their cells and more time with them. So parents: be like Bill Gates. Set limits on your own and your kids’ cell phones. It may sound impossible but the challenge is well worth the effort. The result will be some push back at first, but more conversation at dinner and in the car in the long