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most of you seem to believe the distortion that time has had on those memories, rather than accept the truth
No, I know for a fact that I spent very little of my childhood/youth gawping mindlessly at a screen.
Ironically, I now work in IT, so spend my days gawping (mindlessly?) at a screen 😐
Yunki, its not hard to pick up a tech item nowadays and learn quickly how to navigate around as they are designed to be intuitive (more so than the past) so its not a case 'oh I must get them into the mindset and learning otherwise they will be behind in life later on'..
...in addition what if your personal circumstances change as they are growing and you can't afford to give them the future ipad5 or iphone6 etc etc and they somehow feel 'left behind' or unloved by you?
Buy it for you and let them borrow it 'if they are good'. Share a decent spec pc.
**** giving them expensive tech toys.
right, firstly..thanks for the replies....they've been both funny and informative.
just to clarify..i spend about 4-5 hours a day playing with my kids..i.e jigsaws, footy in the garden, swingball, doing their homework, 1-3 times a week playing on the cbeebies website under my supervision so its not like they are just handed stuff to keep them out of my way.....like i've said earlier, they both have a nintendo ds that they use maybe 3 times a week.
A lot of their friends have tv's and games consoles already and i've been branded a meany as i wont allow ours to have this just yet, so i thought about something smaller(admittedly, i had no idea what an ipod touch was capable of until after i posted this thread).
I've decided against it mainly due to the fact that i cant see them using it too much.....time to get them a camelbak instead 😉 so they can accompany me on longer rides instead.
philconsequence....love it..that is a definite..cheers
hora...this may be a rare thing on here but, i think you maybe right 🙂
In the Night Garden is scary. Hora junior just stops and stares blankly. Last night he held his ball whilst watching them throwing a ball around on screen 😯
Get them a zx spectrum and get them programming in assembly language.
i'm makka pakka.....pale, round and has ocd
according to the wife
Had you thought about Playmobile instead?
derek
thing is.....they have a world map,europe map and a map of the british isles on their walls so that whenever we talk about/hear about somewhere, they can go and research it. They both read to me a lot, practice spellings, practice their maths etc on a daily basis so its not as if they arent getting the educational help they need
actually..the more i type, the more i'm wondering what the hell i'm doing even considering such a gadget.
i apologise for wasting everyones time 😳
dont apologise 😀 i'm now daydreaming about bouncing down my childhood road on a pogo-ball thanks to this thread!
well, at least its brightened your day eh 😀
glad to be of service
A lot of their friends have tv's and games consoles already and i've been branded a meany
There's your problem. Stick to your guns and wait a few years before they get something similar - one day they will understand!
I have three girls (1 x 11 and 2 x 9 years old). Eldest got a phone for her 11th birthday (basically because she now gets the bus to school every day and we need to know if she's coming back on it or if she is staying late) and the twins have a DS between them and will be getting an iPod Shuffle each for Xmas.
Apart from watching a bit of telly they prefer to play with other stuff over the DS.
Conversely my god-daughter has very well-off parents who simply buy her the latest thing every year and she's a proper spoilt little brat.
Hey listen it's not like the old days. You should encourage your kids to spend as much time immersed in technology as possible, it will give them a massive advantage over the kids who aren't technologically literate in the same way that we have a divide between the technology "haves" and "have nots" today.
Randonjeremy unless you are going straight into programming or fault finding I don't understand how your disadvantaged?
Modern windows are very intuitive to use. I don't understand what is hard on pc's to use.
I don't understand what is hard on pc's to use.
A PC, how quaint, you have been left behind by technology already 😉
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http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20104332-1/a-slobber-proof-iphone-case-made-for-babies/
Hey listen it's not like the old days. You should encourage your kids to spend as much time immersed in technology as possible, it will give them a massive advantage over the kids who aren't technologically literate in the same way that we have a divide between the technology "haves" and "have nots" today.
My gran bought a laptop this year for the first time at the age of 86.
Despite only gettign a TV with a remote controll a couple of years ago she seems fine with it, so bang goes that thoery!
A year or two ago my (now 7 year old) daughter dropped into a conversation that she really wanted a "DS"
"Do you know what a DS is?" I said.
"No"
Needless to say she has not got and won't be getting a DS.
By coincidence I just went to collect something I bought from the local auction yesterday for £15 - it will be one of my son's Christmas presents:
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A few thousand bits of Meccano!
I'm going to buy my lad an MX bike 🙂
Well that's not my point really, anyone can use an ipod or iphone or PC or what have you as a basic user - but some will become enthralled with wonder at how these things work and will want to delve deeper, maybe leading them to follow a path of discovery and end up working in the highly lucrative technology field. There's a big difference between your nan using an ipad to check the lottery results, and learning how things work underneath the GUI.
You should encourage your kids to spend as much time immersed in technology as possible, it will give them a massive advantage over the kids who aren't technologically literate in the same way that we have a divide between the technology "haves" and "have nots" today.
Wrong.
It will give them the attention span of goldfish.
Here you go. Buy a copy of [url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/Remotely-Controlled-television-damaging-lives/dp/0091906903/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1315991171&sr=8-6 ]this book[/url] for £3.75 and find out for yourself.
I can't be bothered to read books. Summary please. 😉
Books, TV? How quaint.
Any sort of screen based entertainment is very bad for young people. Kids under two should have zero exposure. Plenty of scientific research to back up the claims.
The OP was talking about 6 year olds not infants. I was learning how my VIC 20 worked when I was 6, it helped fuel a lifelong love of learning about technology in general, and specifically how complex computer systems work.
[i]Why can't they share yours?
Sorry, I'm not questioning anyones parenting but..
Spoilt children anyone?[/i]
Have you ever tried sharing something with a 6 year old? Bloody hard work!
Anyway, my boy (9, respectively) has a DS - got bored, stays in its box (the DS, not the boy, he's always escaping) and [i]shares[/i] an iPad with me.
He prefers Lego.
Just bought this with his birthday money (over £100!)
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I was learning how my VIC 20 worked when I was 6, it helped fuel a lifelong love of learning about technology in general, and specifically how complex computer systems work.
and judging from your previous posts on this thread you've turned out to be a well rounded individual with a rational and balanced world view... 😉
It seems most peoples are arguing against technology, without understanding the difference between the actual technology and the content it delivers.
Buy a copy of this book for £3.75 and find out for yourself.
Maybe I will read it on my ipad, I have a whole library of books available to me just a click away.
What children need to learn is not how to boot up technology, but how to get the most out of the bewilderingly massive amount of information available. and how to filter the probability of viewpoints.
Any sort of screen based entertainment is very bad for young people. Kids under two should have zero exposure. Plenty of scientific research to back up the claims.
Source?
Our little one (17 months) loves her Peppa Pig. Happily points to the screen and says "bappa" and if we don't get the hint she goes and gets the remote and the DVDs.
She also plays with our iPhones sometimes.
Surprisingly neither of these activities have turned her into a drooling vegetable. She also loves reading books, playing outside, going to the park, tearing round softplay etc
The OP was talking about 6 year olds not infants.
QED - you do not have the attention span to be able to read and understand my three sentence long post.
Source?
The book you asked me to summarise you nitwit.
Hey, whilst I'm generally agreed with the consensus that holding off getting the iPod etc. till as late as possible is a good idea, I have to admit that I wrote my first computer program when I was 7, and played quite a lot with computers throughout my teens (as well as biking, running around, scouts, music etc), and now I'm quite good at computer programming and play with computers for a living.
Although in those days having a computer pretty much meant being able to program it, at least in basic or some similar language* - whereas having an iPod, you are a long way away from being able to program it, and I think the interface is not designed in any way to encourage people to do their own stuff with it, it is very much designed as an easy media / app consumption device rather than as something to program yourself.
Joe
*I do remember when we got older asking parents for Pascal / C compilers etc. which were probably quite expensive, that is how much of a sad kid I was!
The book you asked me to summarise you nitwit.
What book? 😉
Edit: seriously does Dr Aric Sigman actually tie his opinions to some hard research and published papers? You said [i]"Plenty of scientific research to back up the claims"[/i] so I'd like some citations.
Ours were 11 (and no internet). Although they had access to one prior to this on occasion. To be honest, I think the DS is a better toy for their age. Doesn't the new one have a camera.
Oh and forget meccano, it falls apart because they were too cheap to use nyloc nuts. Get Knex instead - far more fun. And Lego isn't what it used to be either. The number of distinct parts has grown so fast, it's more like painted nonglued Airfix these days 🙄 .
STWs in revealing Luddite tendencies shocker
I think TV obviously has an effect on babies - our one hasn't watched much just because a)she doesn't sit still for long enough and b)we can't be bothered to buy a proper tv and she just attacks laptops (we watch our TV on iPlayer on the laptop). When she does watch TV at other people's houses it is clearly very odd for her. Whereas you see other babies who are habituated to TV can sit in front of fast moving images just staring at them.
Not sure what that means and if it is a good or a bad thing but I am 100% sure it has some kind of effect.
By the way, all the luddites may like to consider that young kids these days get "computer time" at nursery school as part of the national curriculum.
You said "Plenty of scientific research to back up the claims" so I'd like some citations.
Why, do you collect them? Are you actually going to go away and read the original papers, and in turn follow their citations?
Listen, I have no axe to grind, I just try and do the best for my kids. I read the book and found it compelling. I even gave you a link to it on Amazon where you can "look inside"
I don't think that a lot of screen time will turn your kids into drooling vegetables, but it might move them from above average to average, or from average to slightly dim. It's not middle-class angst it's a real phenomenon to which I have given you a pointer. I'm not going to go through the whole bloody thing chapter by chapter.
IT geeks will inherit the earth
I read the book and found it compelling.
I seem to remember the health visitor and the free NHS literature for new parents making the same recommendations regarding [i]ideal[/i] screen time for infants..
I don't think that a lot of screen time will turn your kids into drooling vegetables, but it might move them from above average to average, or from average to slightly dim. It's not middle-class angst it's a real phenomenon to which I have given you a pointer. I'm not going to go through the whole bloody thing chapter by chapter.
Again I will say, its about filtering content, not about the technology of delivery. That book is content, it can be read as a paper book, on a kindle a PC an ipad etc. Your thinking seems to place a higher value on its content if its printed on paper than the other possible media, yet the words are just the same.
It's all a question of balance, there's nothing wrong with a gadget if it will be played with, child or adult. A gadget bought for the sake of buying a gadget or because their or your friends have one that ends up sitting unused is just a crap choice of present, not the gadget's fault, in the same way that other tat that aunties, uncles, etc.buy at christmas often go unplayed with. If someone thinks they'll get an ipod touch for their child it could be a great present or an expensive shelf filler. With some careful thought they should hopefully have an idea which. I know my 4 yo would get loads out of an mp3 player, but wouldn't dream of getting her a netbook or ipod touch or a handheld games console thingy as she simply wouldn't be interested. Though a light sabre, you should have seen her face light up the first time she fired up one of those.
Are you actually going to go away and read the original papers, and in turn follow their citations?
Yes I was actually.
I even gave you a link to it on Amazon where you can "look inside"
Yeah and on Amazon I can see that other books he has written are:
The Spoilt Generation: Why Restoring Authority Will Make Our Children and Society Happier
Alcohol Nation: How to Protect Our Children from Today's Drinking Culture
Ease Your Fear of Flying: Exercises and soothing sounds to help you relax in the air (audio)
Fall Asleep Without Counting Sheep
He also has [url= http://www.aricsigman.com/ ]his own website[/url] and has appeared on radio and telly to discuss [i]"scientific basis of faith; the biology of hypnosis; and on the effects of too much choice, and .. the hidden detrimental effects of moderate dieting"
[/i]
Which all puts him firmly into my less-than-credible pop-psychologist pile, which is why I wanted to see if his opinion had any actual research behind it (preferably performed by people other than him!)
Books are considered great for kids, most would agree, but any kid sitting around reading all the time isn't getting balance in the same way a kid spending all their time on computer games isn't. You also get good books and crap books for kids. Balance.