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The negative reaction to your comment is surprising. The difference between "screen zombie children" and children with limited screen time is striking and not d

by claar 8y ago

The negative reaction to your comment is surprising. The difference between "screen zombie children" and children with limited screen time is striking and not difficult to observe or quantify. The difference is clear in our own children based on our current family rules, and of course evident in their various friends. Those asking you for "evidence" that the screen zombie children are worse off are either 1. not parents, 2. parents of screen zombie children, or perhaps 3. experiencing something much different than what I've encountered. When my children play video games, especially to excess, they experience something similar to the "brain fog" I experience when I am tired, my diet is off, etc. They also are notably more distracted, selfish and generally unruly. My hypothesis is that this is due to dopamine withdrawal causing their brainpower to be devoted to thoughts about gaming.

aviv 8y ago
I think the negative reaction to my comment is out of parental guilt.
- c0nducktr 8y ago
  I don't think so, as I had a negative reaction to your comment but don't have children. People can disagree with your choices without it being due to guilt.
manfredo 8y ago
I think it's erroneous to assume that being a "screen zombie" is inherently non-productive. I played a shitload of games in K-12. Probably several hours per day. But my parents didn't care as long as I kept taking the hardest honors and AP classes and getting a 4.0. My "screen zombie" time got me interested in modding games and evetually making games. This, in turn, helped me discover a passion for software development which had brought me the immense benefit of being employed in a field that is both lucrative and enjoyable for me. If I wasn't a "screen zombie" I may well have ended up worse off as a result, and I can see why people may come off as defensive when parents judge children that use technology heavily because it's also juding the childhood that a lot of said parents grew up in. Ultimately I reserve judgement of parents as long as their kids are maturing reasonably. A variety of parenting choices means a variety of perspectives and experiences in adulthood.
- fjsolwmv 8y ago
  So you think you would have not been successful as a software developer if your video game time was limited to 2hrs/day? Nor that you might have been able to use that time to develop physical fitness or other life skills?
  - manfredo 8y ago
    Well, 2 hours a day is probably close to what I averaged when I was a kid. So it probably wouldn't have changed anything - but only because a 2 hour a week limit wouldn't actually change my time spent on gaming by a significant degree. 2 hours a day is still a lot, it's 14 hours a week. About twice what most kids spend on homework. If video game time were limited more substantially, I doubt I would have suffered directly. However I may have not found my passion for technology. If nothing else, this would have significantly reduced my economic opportunities. Not many other industries were someone under 25 can expect to make over $200k (including equity, mind you). True, money doesn't buy happiness of self-worth. Financial instability is a common cause of unhappiness and economic power better equips people to find happiness. So in that sense video games unlocked a passion that has allowed my employment to be both fun and lucrative. As far as physical fitness, it doesn't take much to stay in shape at least for me. I'm not overweight (~170lb, 6'2"), I can run decently well (~5 miles in an hour). Sure, if I spent my time playing video games at the gym I could be much more muscular. But I'm not really sure how that level of fitness would significantly improve my life. My strength is sufficient for essentially all the activities I encounter. I suppose it'd make me more physically attractive, but I'm content with the degree to which women are attracted to me already. I also can't really think of any life skills that I really lack. My dad was pretty handy and passed off a lot of those skills to me. Time spent on gaming didn't inhibit this. Heck if anything it augmented it: e.g. I wanted to lay down Ethernet cable to the game room to play Xbox live so my Dad had me run the cables through the crawlspace and taught me the basics of what modems, routers, and switches are and what they do. That plus other life skills like basic carpentry, changing cars and motorcycles' oil, brake pads, spark plugs. Socially, games also helped me considerably. Making friends with other gamers helped me build a circle of friends that mostly shared the same passion for technology. We helped each other explore that interest, most of them also gravitated towards STEM fields. Academically, games didn't help but it certainly didn't hurt either. I always put academics first, and took something like 10 AP classes and got a near 4.0 GPA. I suppose life could be better if I dedicated all my video game time towards learning programming and software development. But that's essentially relying on the power of retrospect. I didn't find my passion for computer technology until I dove so deep into gaming that I entered modding and amateur game dev circles. Ultimately no one can really know what my life would have been like if I placed my time spent on gaming towards something else. But I do know that it played a pivotal role in helping me find a subject that is both interesting to me and pays very well. That's something that I'm incredibly fortunate to have, and it's not certain I would have found the same success if it weren't for the role video games played in my life.

by claar 8y ago

aviv 8y ago

I think the negative reaction to my comment is out of parental guilt.

c0nducktr 8y ago
I don't think so, as I had a negative reaction to your comment but don't have children. People can disagree with your choices without it being due to guilt.

manfredo 8y ago

I think it's erroneous to assume that being a "screen zombie" is inherently non-productive. I played a shitload of games in K-12. Probably several hours per day. But my parents didn't care as long as I kept taking the hardest honors and AP classes and getting a 4.0. My "screen zombie" time got me interested in modding games and evetually making games. This, in turn, helped me discover a passion for software development which had brought me the immense benefit of being employed in a field that is both lucrative and enjoyable for me. If I wasn't a "screen zombie" I may well have ended up worse off as a result, and I can see why people may come off as defensive when parents judge children that use technology heavily because it's also juding the childhood that a lot of said parents grew up in. Ultimately I reserve judgement of parents as long as their kids are maturing reasonably. A variety of parenting choices means a variety of perspectives and experiences in adulthood.

fjsolwmv 8y ago
So you think you would have not been successful as a software developer if your video game time was limited to 2hrs/day? Nor that you might have been able to use that time to develop physical fitness or other life skills?
- manfredo 8y ago
  Well, 2 hours a day is probably close to what I averaged when I was a kid. So it probably wouldn't have changed anything - but only because a 2 hour a week limit wouldn't actually change my time spent on gaming by a significant degree. 2 hours a day is still a lot, it's 14 hours a week. About twice what most kids spend on homework. If video game time were limited more substantially, I doubt I would have suffered directly. However I may have not found my passion for technology. If nothing else, this would have significantly reduced my economic opportunities. Not many other industries were someone under 25 can expect to make over $200k (including equity, mind you). True, money doesn't buy happiness of self-worth. Financial instability is a common cause of unhappiness and economic power better equips people to find happiness. So in that sense video games unlocked a passion that has allowed my employment to be both fun and lucrative. As far as physical fitness, it doesn't take much to stay in shape at least for me. I'm not overweight (~170lb, 6'2"), I can run decently well (~5 miles in an hour). Sure, if I spent my time playing video games at the gym I could be much more muscular. But I'm not really sure how that level of fitness would significantly improve my life. My strength is sufficient for essentially all the activities I encounter. I suppose it'd make me more physically attractive, but I'm content with the degree to which women are attracted to me already. I also can't really think of any life skills that I really lack. My dad was pretty handy and passed off a lot of those skills to me. Time spent on gaming didn't inhibit this. Heck if anything it augmented it: e.g. I wanted to lay down Ethernet cable to the game room to play Xbox live so my Dad had me run the cables through the crawlspace and taught me the basics of what modems, routers, and switches are and what they do. That plus other life skills like basic carpentry, changing cars and motorcycles' oil, brake pads, spark plugs. Socially, games also helped me considerably. Making friends with other gamers helped me build a circle of friends that mostly shared the same passion for technology. We helped each other explore that interest, most of them also gravitated towards STEM fields. Academically, games didn't help but it certainly didn't hurt either. I always put academics first, and took something like 10 AP classes and got a near 4.0 GPA. I suppose life could be better if I dedicated all my video game time towards learning programming and software development. But that's essentially relying on the power of retrospect. I didn't find my passion for computer technology until I dove so deep into gaming that I entered modding and amateur game dev circles. Ultimately no one can really know what my life would have been like if I placed my time spent on gaming towards something else. But I do know that it played a pivotal role in helping me find a subject that is both interesting to me and pays very well. That's something that I'm incredibly fortunate to have, and it's not certain I would have found the same success if it weren't for the role video games played in my life.