When my much younger twin cousins were born, my Aunt and Uncle decided to restrict them almost 100% from screens for the first 3 years of their lives, to the point where they would ask people to put their phones away when around them.
At the time, I thought that was a bit extreme, but seeing those two grow into the most active, intelligent, and happy kids I’ve ever met (especially in their generation), I no longer question their parenting methods. There are obviously a ton of other factors and good parenting practices they followed, but seeing the numerous issues “iPad kids” tend to have, I can’t help but feel they were really on to something.
Cool moral panic anecdote
The negative impact a lot of screen time has on kids is very well documented. Basically, even educational shows do basically nothing for young kids. It’s passive and doesn’t help development in any way. Kids benefit a lot more from active exploration, play, and socialization.
“Moral panic” is a phrase reserved for complaints that have no basis in reality.
Anecdotally, I’m seeing a lot of parents with kids as old as 10 in carts at the grocery store, and those kids are sitting there staring at a tablet or a phone.
As young as 2, also.
It’s constant and nonstop and they don’t look up for anything.
I’m concerned.
Even if they were reading a book, a 10 year old in the cart still sounds a bit silly.
I remember being very active as a kid at the super market running “missions” to get items. One time I dropped a jar of tomato sauce on the floor and I felt so bad about it. Another time I remember college kids making fun of me for pushing the cart (to be fair it probably looked quite ridiculous). Now I look back and laugh…
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Don’t be like me, who pretty much spends most of his free time in front of a screen.
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Don’t become absolutely addicted to your screens, like me.
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Don’t spend most of your time inside, like me.
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Profit from not being someone like me. Screen life gets boring after a while.
Sounds like hogwash if that’s the recap.
This was a jab at my lifestyle. Haven’t read the article.
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- Make screen time together time
- Choose age-appropriate content that encourages play
- Don’t let screens get in the way of parent-child interactions
- Don’t have the TV on in the background
So, I’m missing hot single women because of uBlock I’m using. 😱 Better turn off adblocker immediately! Wait, no - it was my wife that turned it on. 😅
Thank you
Could you maybe throw an ad or two in your summary? Feels weird just seeing all information.
Done
Got it, so take the NES out of the drawer.
Kids need to learn how to blow into cartridges the right way to make them work.
Moral panics gonna panic.
I think this genuinely valuable research. Attention spans in kids are nearly non-existent. My own daughter refuses to be in a long car ride without her tablet.
A small help/guide about how to use this great technology to my child’s benefit rather than detriment is fine with me.
Yeah god knows I was never like that as a kid, wishing I could be home playing my N64 instead of sitting on a car ride for hours and hours and hours on end. Who would ever prefer video games to the freshly recycled air pumped over you for the 100000th time that day while staring out at corn?
Oh, I agree it’s definitely a good thing but it’s also good for kids to be without it as well and learn how to be bored. Because one day the battery will die or they’ll need to sit through something boring and not able to whip out their phone out.
I struggled quite a bit missed in college to pay attention without just getting my phone or phone out and zoning out (which I’m not convinced may have been from undiagnosed ADD or something similar, but I still needed to learn to keep my attention on something less exciting)
Lol, “shrinking attention spans” and worrying about what’s happening to the children is the panic. Start here, maybe check out the books mentioned https://time.com/6958809/smartphones-screen-time-danger-pete-etchells/
