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I was an avid gamer, and today I have a wonderful family and I manage 70 people, but I’m not sure my screen time really did me that much good. I don’t think it

I was an avid gamer, and today I have a wonderful family and I manage 70 people, but I’m not sure my screen time really did me that much good. I don’t think it did me that much harm either, but I would probably have been better off being a normal kid. I think modern games absolutely do harm, I don’t think they should really be called games either, because they are build for addiction to make you play their built in slot machines. My children never had smart devices because nobody under 15 should ever touch a smart device. They grew up much healthier than their peers and I think it was the strict rules on technology that did most of the work. I’m not against technology or smart devices by any means, but it’s hard to use both in a healthy manner and children are really bad at making the right decision. I mean, you wouldn’t give your kid free reign in the candy store, so why would you do it on their smartphone?

dorchadas 8y ago
> They grew up much healthier than their peers and I think it was the strict rules on technology that did most of the work. I'm noticing this among my cousins, at least among social health. I've got one cousin who just entered 7th grade this year, and might be the only person in her class without a phone. One of her best friends just got one at the beginning of the year. Those two are among the only two who actually know how to talk and have a conversation; other kids have no clue how to read tone of voice to tell jokes, or have any clue how to read facial expressions, etc. They honestly say what they want, when they want, without regards to people and then can't interpret that someone is upset. I've noticed it especially in regards to my 11 year old cousin, who's now had his phone for 3 years. He doesn't pick up on tone in jokes, and so unless the joke has an obvious punch line, he doesn't really get it. He has a lot of one-word conversations, often in a brusque tone, because he just wants to watch Minecraft videos. Often, the first thing he'll do when he gets to my grandmother's from school is go to her bedroom, lock the door, and just watch videos. No interaction whatsoever, and good luck trying to get him to talk. I also see it to a much more dangerous degree among my high school students. The lengths they will go to to be on their phones during class (and not even to chat; merely to be on them) is, quite frankly, alarming. I fear for our future, and am looking at dumb phones for myself now (I'll keep my dual sim smartphone for when I travel outside the country and exercise because music)
- B1FF_PSUVM 8y ago
  "I'm not worried about artificial intelligence giving computers the ability to think like humans," Cook said in his commencement speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "I'm more concerned about people thinking like computers" (Someone else said that some fifty years ago, but Cook's quote is what comes up now in a quick search ...)
- spyckie2 8y ago
  Agree with the concerns but disagree that there's a causal relationship in the examples that you've stated. For instance 7 year olds develop at different paces, there's definitely a lot of 7 year olds without phones who don't know how to have a conversation, and it may be due to lack of practice, not due to excessive screen time - those two may overlap but are not the same thing. Likewise, an 11 year old who likes minecraft may not be the social butterfly you expect if you take away his access to games. Agree that phones maybe a potential candidate for social health concerns though.
  - dorchadas 8y ago
    Oh, I agree it's merely anecdotal, but, as a teacher, I've seen the effects. I can easily point out the kids who got their phones younger, as they have less ability to interact with other people and read emotions and such in an appropriate manner. They'd rather text than try to express emotion interpersonally. And while he might not be tla social butterfly, I don't think it's difficult to say technology access is impacting his ability to develop socially fairly negatively. This is supported by quite a bit of research.

dorchadas 8y ago

> They grew up much healthier than their peers and I think it was the strict rules on technology that did most of the work. I'm noticing this among my cousins, at least among social health. I've got one cousin who just entered 7th grade this year, and might be the only person in her class without a phone. One of her best friends just got one at the beginning of the year. Those two are among the only two who actually know how to talk and have a conversation; other kids have no clue how to read tone of voice to tell jokes, or have any clue how to read facial expressions, etc. They honestly say what they want, when they want, without regards to people and then can't interpret that someone is upset. I've noticed it especially in regards to my 11 year old cousin, who's now had his phone for 3 years. He doesn't pick up on tone in jokes, and so unless the joke has an obvious punch line, he doesn't really get it. He has a lot of one-word conversations, often in a brusque tone, because he just wants to watch Minecraft videos. Often, the first thing he'll do when he gets to my grandmother's from school is go to her bedroom, lock the door, and just watch videos. No interaction whatsoever, and good luck trying to get him to talk. I also see it to a much more dangerous degree among my high school students. The lengths they will go to to be on their phones during class (and not even to chat; merely to be on them) is, quite frankly, alarming. I fear for our future, and am looking at dumb phones for myself now (I'll keep my dual sim smartphone for when I travel outside the country and exercise because music)

B1FF_PSUVM 8y ago
"I'm not worried about artificial intelligence giving computers the ability to think like humans," Cook said in his commencement speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "I'm more concerned about people thinking like computers" (Someone else said that some fifty years ago, but Cook's quote is what comes up now in a quick search ...)
spyckie2 8y ago
Agree with the concerns but disagree that there's a causal relationship in the examples that you've stated. For instance 7 year olds develop at different paces, there's definitely a lot of 7 year olds without phones who don't know how to have a conversation, and it may be due to lack of practice, not due to excessive screen time - those two may overlap but are not the same thing. Likewise, an 11 year old who likes minecraft may not be the social butterfly you expect if you take away his access to games. Agree that phones maybe a potential candidate for social health concerns though.
- dorchadas 8y ago
  Oh, I agree it's merely anecdotal, but, as a teacher, I've seen the effects. I can easily point out the kids who got their phones younger, as they have less ability to interact with other people and read emotions and such in an appropriate manner. They'd rather text than try to express emotion interpersonally. And while he might not be tla social butterfly, I don't think it's difficult to say technology access is impacting his ability to develop socially fairly negatively. This is supported by quite a bit of research.