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New York Times: 'Screen Addiction Is Taking a Toll on Children'

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Dick Whitman, Jul 6, 2015.

  1. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    A compelling, important piece from today's NYT:

    http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/06/screen-addiction-is-taking-a-toll-on-children/?_r=0

    They don't make the connection in the piece - I'm not sure there's been a connection established to this point - but I mentioned this after the Charleston massacre. I believe we are really harming generations of children right now, potentially, with this shit, particularly addictive video games. Anesthesizing them in many ways. Causing ADD in others.

    We had been using 10 minutes of video game time, and still do on occasion, to incentivize our son's reading progress, for example. We've pulled way, way, way back on that now, after one too many fits/meltdowns over the 10 minutes being up. It was getting to be all he cared about, and that's at 10 minutes or so a day or so.

    And, yeah, like a lot of us posting here or anywhere, I have my own screen addiction issues. Going to work on that. As I read someone say this weekend, no one asks to be buried with their iPad.
     
  2. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    From my cold, dead hands.
     
  3. expendable

    expendable Well-Known Member

    Please install the latest OS upgrade before you close the casket.
     
  4. Mr. Sunshine

    Mr. Sunshine Well-Known Member

    Our son gets way more screen time than we'd like. But he has a language delay and has never been patient enough to sit for any kind of book-related interaction. The only thing that got him to focus early on were puzzles on the iPhone. He's been hard to ween off screen time ever since. I wish he didn't spend so much time watching his Thomas and Cookie Monster videos, but they have greatly expanded his vocabulary, not just from the words he hears but also from his willingness to repeat (which for him is conversation like). The possible ADD connection is interesting, but I'm not sure if the iPad/tablet is the chicken or the egg.
     
  5. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    A woman I went to high school with recently posted on Facebook about how she was worried about her son's reading test to get into second or third grade, and how she wishes people understood that even though he struggled with school, he was actually really smart. For example, she said, he's an "amazing gamer."

    Unbelievable.

    This was woman who was in the smart kid classes at my high school.
     
    Tweener likes this.
  6. Mr. Sunshine

    Mr. Sunshine Well-Known Member

    Are you sure her son is an idiot?
     
  7. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Not at all. I imagine he's probably quite intelligent.
     
  8. Mr. Sunshine

    Mr. Sunshine Well-Known Member

    I'd rather my child become a video game designer than a newspaper designer.
     
  9. Mr. Sunshine

    Mr. Sunshine Well-Known Member

    In all seriousness, I don't think these devices have been around long enough to make any solid connections regarding how helpful/harmful they are.
     
  10. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    I have a friend from high school who does that for a living. He's pretty successful.

    The thing is, he was also a good student.
     
  11. Fly

    Fly Well-Known Member

    I hope they get the extended battery.
     
  12. Mr. Sunshine

    Mr. Sunshine Well-Known Member

    Struggling in school and being a good gamer might not have anything more to do with each other than being a good gamer and being really smart. What makes your argument any different than this woman's?
     
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