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

My son isn't even 3 yet and has seen all seven Star Wars movies. He also has seemingly every piece of Darth Vader merchandise ever made.

They are kids' movies.

 

The violence is pretty sterile, but I'm still not sure I want to explain to LilPern why Cornelius Evazan got his damn arm sliced off by Obi-Wan Kenoki (as my guy calls him). I'll probably show them to him soon, just so he can avoid the big spoiler (even when I read him Star Wars books, I always leave that part out).

 

I think that he saw some of Episode IV at his cousins' house at Thanksgiving. He's 6. We saw "The Force Awakens" together after I screened it once. Same age I was when I saw ROTJ.

He knew the characters and storylines inside and out already, though, from the universe, from his books.

 

Given the academic success of high screen-time, high tech-penetration countries like South Korea, I'd be interested to know if there are exceptions to the theory being put forward here.

 

My wife is constantly amazed at seeing parents just handing over an iPhone or iPad to kids in public to keep them occupied.

A whole family will be at dinner, but the kids won’t participate in the conversation at all because they’re playing games or watching videos.

Her friends are equally surprised when they learn that we don’t do any screen time with Fiona.

She likes her books, doing puzzles, and playing with her stuffed animals, and I doubt any of those activities would occupy her the same way if she was used to watching TV.

 

What about Pixy Sticks?