Today's kids NO longer have HUMAN parents...

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Taddio

Guest
Yeah...my grandma' bought me a NES on my 5th birthday, look where that got me...
Some of these kids will grow up to be tech geniuses and that doesn't mean they don't go outside on their bikes or have cyborgs parents, c'mon...
 

K12gamer

Member
Yeah...my grandma' bought me a NES on my 5th birthday, look where that got me...
Some of these kids will grow up to be tech geniuses and that doesn't mean they don't go outside on their bikes or have cyborgs parents, c'mon...
I see kids as young as 6 watching Youtube rap videos on their phones.
I rarely see them doing anything education with these devices.

I think parents need to put more limits on these things...and only allow educational stuff to be accessed.
 

Mert

Member
Who will end up to be regular smokers, fanatic consumers of alcohol and birth control pills, main source of the low-work force and of course depression ?
But partying every weekend is fun, except you'll end up working even in weekends in your 35s.
I was said that once.
 

MissingNo.

Member
I rarely see them doing anything education with these devices.
....

Funny typo aside I don't see how kids should only be allowed to view educational content on their electronic devices, maybe I'm making assumptions
but I imagine you watched plenty of TV, played plenty of games or read comics when you were a kid. Yeah I do believe everything should be in moderation
but ONLY allowing them to view educational content is a bit harsh, they need time to be kids. If they don't get enough time to be kids they will grow up bitter
and resentful.

Edit:
I was said that once.
The typos in this thread are hilarious, but to be fair I have done much worse.
 

chance

predictably random
Forum Staff
Moderator
I rarely see them doing anything education with these devices.
I'm guessing you're referring to kids you see in public. Like grocery shopping with mom, riding in cars or buses, etc.? Maybe these are times when fun diversions are appropriate.

I appreciate your concern. But unless you're with these kids 24/7, you probably don't know what educational software they might be accessing. Or how much time they spend learning away from your classroom. So you might be jumping to the wrong conclusion.

Hey, at least they aren't hanging out on the GMC.
 

Gamer (ex-Cantavanda)

〜Flower Prince〜
It has always been like this.... even in the prehistoric times when the stone hedge was built kids were busy on their "game-boys" playing "pokey-moon" all day long, as seen in this picture.
 

Sm0ke

Member
When I was little and engaged in obligatory outings with my parents (going to the grocery store, running miscellaneous errands, horse shows, etc.) I always brought along my Game Boy Color, the charger, and plenty of games in case things were going to take a while. When I got a little older, I replaced the Game Boy with my Nintendo DS. I barely engaged with my surroundings and focused on the game that was in front of me. My parents didn't see much wrong with this; it kept me quiet and they were able to efficiently do chores while keeping an eye on me. When I would get home, however, I normally wouldn't spend all of my time on those devices. Sure, I would occasionally hop on my PS2 or, in later years, the Wii, but it was always in moderation.
I do not remember my parents even setting gaming ceilings for me when I was little. I just enjoyed being around my parents a lot. They set good examples, talked to me and kept an interest in my life (whatever you can call a life for a nine-year-old), and had good insights to which I enjoyed listening. They are people around which I enjoy being, and that hasn't changed. If anything, in my teenage years I got a little too hooked on Xbox and spent many moons in the basement. I had rough times with my parents when I was 13-16, but I learned on my own that my behavior wasn't justified. I think they raised me properly enough to give me an understanding of what I was doing to them at that age; they were candid with me and tried to explain things in a way that I would understand. It took my edgy, unbearably annoying teen self a few years to grasp, but I did, and that's because of a lifestyle to which they imparted me back in the days where I had my eyes full of Mario Bros. Deluxe while at the grocery store.
I think it would be fair to say that lackluster parents shove devices in front of their kids to shut them up and use them as a crutch, but it seems a little less fair to say that all parents do such a thing. Such a sweeping generalization would require empirical data that 1. you don't have, because 2. it doesn't exist. A Game Boy Color is obviously not the same thing as a much more sophisticated iPad, and perhaps comparing the two is false equivalence, but they generally serve the same purpose. It's just something to do while you're six years old and bored at the grocery store with mom. I think it's pretty fair to wager that because our attention spans are not refined at that age and our much older parents don't have a total grasp on how to communicate with such a small, immature person, most of us had such idle distractions available to us at that age. I think we, largely, turned out okay.
Unless you're following these people home and have an intimate view of their lives about which we don't know, it's fair to assume that neither of us have a proper understanding of how current parents raise their children, since that is an endlessly complicated structure that cannot be summed up in eight words and three images.
 

Changgi

Member
I was exposed to Atari and NES from when I was in second Form. That sparked my first interest in programming due to the products of the video games being limited, and understanding hardware and programming limitations on these old consoles was a key.

During my primary school life I was allowed 10-30 minutes of entertainment (read: non-studying) per day and I thought that was the norm (normally people tend to find treatment from your parents/carers the norm anyway unless you start hearing about others' experiences that drastically differs). Even today, I wished they had given me more time off sudying per day. When I got home it was 5pm. I could spend the time watching the TV for 10-30 mins or I could dive right on to studying again after arriving home from school, meaning I have no entertainment for my entire day (I mean you could say recesses are "fun" times but I had no friends and not being able to do stuff I like such as playing LEGO, watching TV, or drawing is not exactly what I'd call entertainment so I don't count break times as fun times). Naturally I watched whatever was on, even shows clearly not for guys.

My point being, I don't think children having access to these technology at a young age is a bad thing (I mean, my father's older than me and I might know more about programming than he does), and that strictly limiting them to educational stuff is bad. When it comes down to it, I don't really see the point in giving kids no entertainment time whatsoever. Like kids aren't going to all become A-in-all-subjects if you deprive them of all entertainment and force them to be looking at studies only. There's also been research done which proved that humans do need time to do other stuff but of course my parents don't buy that.
 

K12gamer

Member
I'm guessing you're referring to kids you see in public. Like grocery shopping with mom, riding in cars or buses, etc.? Maybe these are times when fun diversions are appropriate.

I appreciate your concern. But unless you're with these kids 24/7, you probably don't know what educational software they might be accessing. Or how much time they spend learning away from your classroom. So you might be jumping to the wrong conclusion.

Hey, at least they aren't hanging out on the GMC.
They'd probably be a lot safer (educated) here than watching a bunch of inappropriate videos on Youtube...
or on Whatsapp viewing MOMO suicide challenges.
 

chance

predictably random
Forum Staff
Moderator
They'd probably be a lot safer (educated) here than watching a bunch of inappropriate videos on Youtube...
or on Whatsapp viewing MOMO suicide challenges.
Yes, the world is broad and alien.

Internet hoaxes aside, I agree kids can find inappropriate stuff on the internet, if they go looking for it. But we can't conclude this makes iphones and ipads dangerous for children.
 

Sm0ke

Member
They'd probably be a lot safer (educated) here than watching a bunch of inappropriate videos on Youtube...
or on Whatsapp viewing MOMO suicide challenges.
Correct me if I am wrong, as I have done zero research before posting, but don't most of the "child-friendly," education-oriented content on application stores come packaged with predatory, intrusive advertisements? If it's a free program that comes from the App Store or the Google Play Store, it's almost certainly going to have advertisements designed to trick children into tapping on them. Children do not know better. If you're going for bomb-shelter safety, you might as well just give them a LeapFrog.
What seems to be the best solution to me is to download a roster of authentic, polished games from actual retailers that require no internet connectivity and keeping the iPad on Airplane Mode when in the kid's grubby hands. I think your main concern here is a kid's access to the internet, as opposed to the technology they are using to access it. I'm sure a lot of parents are doing this, since it's a solution that took me approximately three seconds of thinking to realize. You don't have any idea what parents are and are not engaging in such practical solutions, but you do appear quite crestfallen by eager media headlines that document the so-called "consequences" of the Momo thing (is it a meme? It is certainly a hoax) without doing much digging. Most forms of news media have heavy time and budget restrictions that make looking into matters relatively difficult. Here's a rather succinct analysis into the current Momo trend, if you are really that concerned (you do not need to be).
 

chance

predictably random
Forum Staff
Moderator
There's some truth to your comment about advertising targeting children. But let's be careful not to over-generalize. Not all games / apps do this. And not all kids are easily manipulated.

What we call "childhood" comprises many years, with vastly different levels of maturity throughout the period. Kids aren't a monolithic social group.
 

Bluetail7

Member
Maybe, maybe not, its hard to tell, but as I see: Were living in a growing society that is running out of time at the expense of money. The entertainment resources are getting bigger and more dedicated, humoristic and family friendly. Making our old activities such as watching tv, radio station a forgotten media (except cars: they keep pushing the radio in their music system)
 
M

Misu

Guest
Ok you all seem to have point of views that gives me struggle to agree. I believe the main problem is "misbalance" of living. Having to spend your life freely viewing and interacting with media can be both good and bad. The fact media helps explore the diversity of culture, understand the social aspects, and of course entertain themselves... Its a main reason why its important. However, too much time in media can (possibly) lead to an unhealthy mind set or lack of physical development on the body. This can be by following negative culture (that can be quite disrespectful or politically incorrect and developing bad influence base on what they might view. What might lack physical development is the addiction to media, which keeps you away from outdoor activity, social interaction with family, and sometimes (not too often) the proper education system.
Because something has both sides of the coin, their should be a balance inbetween both the media and the traditional activities. Its okay to spend your time during your childhood with technology and media but also have some small time with outdoor events, and physical social activities (incliding spending time with your family).

The fact you emphasize in one of them more than the other can lead to something either appropiate or inappropiate. I guess this is more of a subjective matter. *shrugs*
 
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Misty

Guest
Kids these days are raised by single mothers or their mothers have to work 5 jobs because the value of the dollar is so low due to a broken economy that kids are put in some fascist day-care system and brainwashed with a mentality, and never experience what having a normal family is like. Their only real friend is an iPod then one day they realize 99% of their inbox is just spam from robocalls who just want to take their money then they snap.
 
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NeonBits

Guest
what's the matter; you've lost at monopoly or something? Ha! I get ya; you miss Tarzan and his monkey. Nothing better than a jungle and its mother nature. By the way, you've ruined your "TheCrow" cosplay; don't kiss your girlfriend like that before the contest; you have lipstick all over your face. It's not society the problem: it's our neighboors lol
 
S

Sam (Deleted User)

Guest
what's the matter; you've lost at monopoly or something? Ha! I get ya; you miss Tarzan and his monkey. Nothing better than a jungle and its mother nature. By the way, you've ruined your "TheCrow" cosplay; don't kiss your girlfriend like that before the contest; you have lipstick all over your face. It's not society the problem: it's our neighboors lol
uhh
 

TheouAegis

Member
At least The Joker survived his movie long enough to get started on another one.

*tsissss* burrrrnnnn

jk, It was a tragedy what happened to Brandon that should have never happened.
 
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