Digital Addiction

I have always been strict with my kids as to how much they are allowed to access digital media – be it through the ‘family’ iMac, smartphones, or tablets. They have never been allowed to have a video game machine in the house either – not because I think video games are intrinsically bad (I am fine with them playing the things when they are at friends’ houses), but because I want them to grow up riding their bikes, learning to cut and stack wood, and reading.

In any case, I just came across this article[/url], and feel slightly vindicated.

Anyone have any counter-points?

Thought this was going to be about fingers

I want them to grow up, learning to cut and stack wood.

She found him sitting up in his bed staring wide-eyed, his bloodshot eyes looking into the distance as his glowing iPad lay next to him. He seemed to be in a trance.

You know what.. I think that’s scare-mongering bollocks.

Like most things, it’s all about balance.

Anyone have any counter-points?

Your parents said the same thing about TV when you were a lad.

And their parents probably said the same thing about books.

Ah, there we are – someone has a book to sell:

waddaloadaballs

Saxon,I think it must be hard for your kids when they see how much their dad is online 😉 😆 😆

Preparing your kids for life in the 1970s is an odd choice. I guess they can move to Wales.

or New Zealand

😉

There’s some truth in it. We’re more lenient with No1 Son over the Hols, but left unchecked he’ll spend every waking moment staring at something – he angrily moves from PC to Console to iPad as/when he has to move because his sister wants to watch Peppa Pig or something. His reaction is massively disproportional, arms waving, angry shouting etc – it’s like a junkie coming off gear (okay, that’s exaggerating, but there’s an element of it).

Back in term time now his iPad lives in my office, because he is a NIGHTMARE with it, the PC is password locked and he doesn’t know it and the console died a few weeks ago. Even I think it’s harsh, but it’s like living with a monster when he’s allowed free reign, he’s dishonest – always trying to hide his ipad in his room so he came spend all night watching minecraft videos or ‘slenderman’ stuff. Shouting at his 2 year old sister because he wants to play with the keyboard when he’s on minecraft. So he gets a few hours at the weekend.

He’s 11 in a few weeks and wants a mobile phone, which he’s getting – how long he’ll keep it though is another matter, he had his ipad when he was 8, it lasted 3 months before it was banned only to be brought home at holidays and xmas, he had a mobile off his Granddad last year, that lasted a week before it was taken off him for being a sod to live with and an ipod touch which got smashed up – we told him to not take it out to play as 1) someone would break it, 2) without wi-fi it was all but useless. He hid it in his shorts and took it out – it got smashed.

I’ll be amazed if he’s still got it at Xmas.

learning to cut and stack wood,

If you are serious, then that’s the most STW post ever.

He’s 11 in a few weeks and wants a mobile phone, which he’s getting – how long he’ll keep it though is another matter, he had his ipad when he was 8, it lasted 3 months before it was banned only to be brought home at holidays and xmas,

Why are you buying him gadgets to take off him? No wonder he’s sneaking about behind your back.

There’s letting your 6 yo kid use your ipad, and then there’s buying the 6yo his own ipad like the author of that piece. Bobbins ensues.

No responsible parent thinks unstructured access to digital media is a good thing – you only have to see the reaction of kids when you take the tablet off them, it’s completely obvious that it needs some management. Pretty much everyone is able to do this without it turning into some sort of bogus crisis of our age.

To put things into perspective, here is an article from the New York Times from the pre-digital dark ages of 1990, talking about the dangers of television addiction.

From the article:

..researchers have found, television tends to elicit a state of ”attentional inertia,” marked by lowered activity in the part of the brain that processes complex information.
..
One prominent theory of television addiction, proposed by Jerome Singer, a psychologist at Yale University, holds that people who watch too much television from childhood grow up with a deprived fantasy life.

Sounds familiar.

Saxon,I think it must be hard for your kids when they see how much their dad is online

Hey! I get paid to do this!

@DezB: I fully recognise that the initial anecdote is hyper-dramatised, but it’s whether or not there is a legitimate concern behind it.

No responsible parent thinks unstructured access to digital media is a good thing

I would like to agree, but I have been surprised by the generally thoughtful, caring people I have met, whose children have virtually unfettered access to anything digital.

Just take a trip up the M6 sometime, and, as you sit motionless for 6 hours between Birmingham and Sandbach, look at the families whose kids are in the back seat watching the built-in screens or playing on iPads. I can see that, in moderation, these things are fine. But why not books? Or conversation?

Why are you buying him gadgets to take off him? No wonder he’s sneaking about behind your back.

I’m not, he’s asked for a Gadget, it’s age appropriate and it’ll come with some rules.

Basically he can use it whenever he wants, wherever he wants except – after bed-time or at school (school rules).

If he refuses to do his homework, chores (or chore to be exact, his only job in the house is to get the table ready for dinner) or get ready when he needs to, because he’s won’t put it down – it gets taken off him for a few hours.

In theory it’s a 3 strikes in a week rule, he usually get double that. If he can stick to the rules he can have it forever more, he hasn’t managed it yet, but he’s a bit older now, and he knows without any shadow of doubt that we’ll stick to them.

But why not books? Or conversation?

Duh?

learning to cut and stack wood,

You can probably do that in Minecraft. 🙂

Whatever era (certainly over the last century or so) theres always been a ready supply of pre-digested entertainment for children whether its comic books or video games. Theres nothing new about kids preferring that easy option over having to go out the door and make their own choices – some of which might be bad ones or boring ones.

GrahamS – Member

To put things into perspective, here is an article from the New York Times from the pre-digital dark ages of 1990, talking about the dangers of television addiction.

From the article:

..researchers have found, television tends to elicit a state of ”attentional inertia,” marked by lowered activity in the part of the brain that processes complex information.

Sounds familiar. The pseudoscientific scaremongering is familiar, but isn’t internetting the opposite sort of mentality to watching TV? Over-stimulating to the brain by being constantly engaged (with the illusion of control), thus smashing your attention span into tiny fragments? Whereas extreme telly watching turns you into a passive cabbage.

Me:

😉

Just take a trip up the M6 sometime, and, as you sit motionless for 6 hours between Birmingham and Sandbach..
But why not books? Or conversation?

Reading in the car = insta-vomit for most kids (and many adults).

Conversation? Have you tried spending six hours having a half-heard conversation over your shoulder with a bored three year old??

Take a chance to teach them how to best use technology.

Technology will be more of their adult world than it will have been yours, denying them the ability to use it correctly may well hamper them in later life.

It’s all about balance. One end of the spectrum is living like the Amish and the other relying on the TV and computers to parent your child for you.
Technology isn’t going anywhere, until the zombie apocalypse happens being comfortable using a computer is probably more relevant/useful in life these days than knowing how to chop and stack wood.
Computer games aren’t inherently bad either, you just need to moderate the time spent playing them. My nieces and nephews have a Wii, PS4 and access to iPads and laptops but they’re restricted on how much they can use them

Amongst other things I make public sculptures. When the last one was installed I was told that the audience for my work is ‘dreamy kids looking out of their parent’s car windows’.

My career’s fubarred if there aren’t any more dreamy kids looking out the window anymore. 🙂

My career’s fubarred if there aren’t any more dreamy kids.

Isn’t that what got Rolf Harris into trouble?

Isn’t that what got Rolf Harris into trouble?

“Can you tell what it is yet?”

Response to the OP’s article here…
http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/30/12715848/new-york-post-internet-texting-addiction-irresponsible-hysteria

Remember, if you want more info on digital heroin, the author of the OP’s article has a book – BUT CAREFUL NOT TO GET THE E-BOOK VERSION! 🙂 http://us.macmillan.com/glowkids/nicholaskardaras

I started playing computer games, then writing computer games, then studying maths to use in the games, then studying maths + computers at university, and now i use all that at work!

Digital != bad.

I started playing computer games, then writing computer games, then studying maths to use in the games, then studying maths + computers at university, and now i use all that at work!

Likewise. Getting a ZX81 for my birthday is directly responsible for everything I have in life.

Last time I had this conversation (with a local parents group) it was a “study” published by a “doctor” who just happened to run a website selling very expensive board games and information packs to help “digital detox” your children 🙄

Likewise. Getting a ZX81 for my birthday is directly responsible for everything I have in life.

Yep. I had an Atari 2600, then got a second-hand ZX81 (with 16K ram pack) given to me in an old shoe-box one Christmas. And thus began my career as a software engineer.

my boys, 10 and 13, have ipads/iphones/xboxes and we don’t restrict their use.

There is a natural restriction as they go to school on weekdays, both play in local footie teams, both ride bikes (eldest in in a development club), youngest goes to cubs etc etc.

So on the evenings when they have some time we are quite happy for them to be playing with technology/online. They will also sit and watch tv/Sky/Prime etc, often with us 🙂 The only real restriction we impose is around bedtime, when all devices need to be out their rooms, which they are fine with.

IMO these things find their natural balance and as long as they have access to a wide range of other activities it seems to settle out fine.

Getting a ZX81 for my birthday

Acorn System 3 here…

My dad was involved in the BBC Micro project and we got to test BBC Basic for a year before the BBC Micro came out. Got a new 5 1/4″ floppy every week with the latest version…

Got a new 5 1/4″ floppy every week with the latest version…

Isn’t that what got Rolf Harris into trouble?

@HH: thanks for that response article. It’s exactly the kind of thing I was looking for.

footflaps – You had one of those at home?

I am jealous even though it was nearly 40 years ago.

Did you have rockstar status in the schoolyard? 🙂

learning to cut and stack wood,

I don’t think you’ve thought this through

In the 1920s, they blamed the record player. In the 1930s, it was the radio. By the 1960s it was television. I remember my parents trying to enforce rules about my computer time without any understanding of what I was actually doing, but that didn’t stop them from assuming that I was playing the type of games that Teddy Taylor raged against in the Daily Mail.

“It’ll rot your mind, you know!”.

All things in balance, if you have set times for kids to play with gadgets and you ensure that they stick to them then fine. Reading time is good, as is trying to encourage them to go and play outside.

However, kids form their own narratives with various activities, whether they’re playing video games or with Lego or whatever. There are some video games that provide creative outlets and learning opportunities – Minecraft and the Civilization series spring to mind. My stepsons learned more about the Cuban Missile crisis and the characters involved by playing CoD of all things…

SaxonRider –

@HH: thanks for that response article. It’s exactly the kind of thing I was looking for.

There was me thinking, that’s what you got from this thread.