5 ms·

My kids loved to play Minecraft too until they found out about mods and now they have no fun doing regular creative stuff in vanilla MC anymore. I think that a

My kids loved to play Minecraft too until they found out about mods and now they have no fun doing regular creative stuff in vanilla MC anymore. I think that also goes hand-in-hand with the trend for kids to just stare at screens all day and not really do things. My oldest son just began his first year in public school at 8th grade (he was homeschooled until now) and they had a puzzle challenge and all the other kids took like 20 minutes to do a 50 piece puzzle. My son told me how surprised he was and I had to explain to him that those other kids in class probably just sit and stare at a screen all day, just like he notices they do on their bus ride. Kids these days don't go out and play nearly as much, they don't go exploring the neighborhood during summer or evenings, they don't play with LEGOs, they don't do puzzles, they don't just sit and read a good book, they aren't prepared to understand so many aspects of life that us older generations take for granted. I know the whole "kids these days" is a cliche, but in this case these are actually legitimately huge changes happening in society and culture, on the scale of electricity and trains: having the entire internet at your fingertips pretty much 24/7 even from a young age is going to change future generations in gigantic ways that I don't think society really understands, and which I definitely think the mass media and society in general is financially incentivized to keep quiet about or try to ignore.

_sdegutis 9y ago
I think good leadership is a very important key to solving this kind of issue. School administrators could make rules that you can't use screens on school grounds or on the bus rides. Instead you have to turn and actually talk to the people sitting next to you. Families especially need strong leaders, and I know this is controversial, because I grew up 100% indoctrinated into the belief that families should be a democracy and that parents should just let kids figure out everything on their own. But as a father of 5, I see their need for structure and rules even if they are unpopular or don't sound as fun. For example, for a year or so we did 500 piece puzzles together as a family every other night, while one of us read a book to everyone else. We could pause the book and talk about what we were reading, and it was a generally good time. Sure, they sometimes would complain and argue that they would rather watch Sonic Boom or play their 3DS or whatever, but enforcing the rule was good for them and now they look back on those days with nostalgia, and I really see many legitimate ways that it benefited them as people in general.
- stalin555 9y ago
  I hope they had a choice what to do in their spare time each night. That sounds painful and awful if they didn't.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - _sdegutis 9y ago
    I didn't mean the whole night. But a good solid 30 minutes of spending time like this together before their bed time (they were no older than 8) helped them unwind before bed from a fun day of doing schoolwork and playing outside and climbing trees and riding bikes and stuff. EDIT: also this was when I had a 3 hour roundtrip commute to Chicago and got home at 7pm every night, so I didn't get to see them. It was a good way to have us all spend time together every night relaxing and having opportunities to talk about our days and stuff.
reustle 9y ago
> just like he notices they do on their bus ride. Wow, this never occurred to me for some reason. I'm only 26, but remember all the conversations and jokes happening on the bus rides every day to and from school. Shame to hear that is fading away, too.
someguydave 9y ago
What if your son was just smarter than the other kids?
- _sdegutis 9y ago
  It could be. But it could also be that they all have the same potential of intelligence (roughly), and that it's just he's hit more of his potential than they have, through utilizing and practicing the skills. Kind of like how my brother is better than me at basketball, but I could be as good as him if I actually tried.

_sdegutis 9y ago

I think good leadership is a very important key to solving this kind of issue. School administrators could make rules that you can't use screens on school grounds or on the bus rides. Instead you have to turn and actually talk to the people sitting next to you. Families especially need strong leaders, and I know this is controversial, because I grew up 100% indoctrinated into the belief that families should be a democracy and that parents should just let kids figure out everything on their own. But as a father of 5, I see their need for structure and rules even if they are unpopular or don't sound as fun. For example, for a year or so we did 500 piece puzzles together as a family every other night, while one of us read a book to everyone else. We could pause the book and talk about what we were reading, and it was a generally good time. Sure, they sometimes would complain and argue that they would rather watch Sonic Boom or play their 3DS or whatever, but enforcing the rule was good for them and now they look back on those days with nostalgia, and I really see many legitimate ways that it benefited them as people in general.

stalin555 9y ago
I hope they had a choice what to do in their spare time each night. That sounds painful and awful if they didn't.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- _sdegutis 9y ago
  I didn't mean the whole night. But a good solid 30 minutes of spending time like this together before their bed time (they were no older than 8) helped them unwind before bed from a fun day of doing schoolwork and playing outside and climbing trees and riding bikes and stuff. EDIT: also this was when I had a 3 hour roundtrip commute to Chicago and got home at 7pm every night, so I didn't get to see them. It was a good way to have us all spend time together every night relaxing and having opportunities to talk about our days and stuff.

reustle 9y ago

> just like he notices they do on their bus ride. Wow, this never occurred to me for some reason. I'm only 26, but remember all the conversations and jokes happening on the bus rides every day to and from school. Shame to hear that is fading away, too.

someguydave 9y ago

What if your son was just smarter than the other kids?

_sdegutis 9y ago
It could be. But it could also be that they all have the same potential of intelligence (roughly), and that it's just he's hit more of his potential than they have, through utilizing and practicing the skills. Kind of like how my brother is better than me at basketball, but I could be as good as him if I actually tried.