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Every generation finds something to panic about because it's going to destroy their children. The article points this out: in the 50s, it was Elvis shaking his

Every generation finds something to panic about because it's going to destroy their children. The article points this out: in the 50s, it was Elvis shaking his hips, the 80s had Dungeons and Dragons, the 90s had video games. And every generation is convinced that while every previous moral panic was nonsense: this time it's different! Chill people. We survived hips and tabletop games and videogames - "screen time" is no different and we'll be just fine with that one too.

baroffoos 7y ago
Some of them were real however, smoking really was a terrible idea as was sugar, fast food, and many other things.
- dagenix 7y ago
  So were man-eating tigers and poison ivy. You can't just make a list of things you don't like and say that that disproved my argument about a moral panic. I cited 3 specific things that parents panicked about primarily because their children were growing up differently than they had. Smoking has decreased over time - it's not unique to some particular generation of children. Fast Food really is something that parents feed to their children, not really a difference in what it means to grow up. And I don't know what to say about sugar - it still exists? I guess thats bad?
  - baroffoos 7y ago
    What do you think about the moral panic about kids picking up vaping or doing drugs at music festivals?
nfoz 7y ago
To be fair, not everyone "survived" videogames. I know plenty of people who got "trapped" by them as young adults and some lost years to it or never really moved on. By which I mean, had them as an addiction/escape from developing social skills or confronting other responsibilities.
- dagenix 7y ago
  So, these people you know who got "trapped" - if it wasn't for videogames, they would have had no issues?
  - claudiawerner 7y ago
    That's really beside the point. GP isn't arguing that video games are the sole source of their problems, only that video games could make it worse. And even then, I can easily imagine situations in which without video games they would have been fine. Since video gaming can be an addiction, perhaps you could compare it to other addictions like alcohol. While you could say that an alcoholic already had an addictive personality so you can't blame the alcohol, it seems really odd to excuse the role of the addictive substance in the first place. Nobody is arguing that alcohol or video games be banned.
hn_throwaway_99 7y ago
I think this is a really bad argument, mainly because it ignores the things that people "panicked" about that actually did end up having horrible consequences for society. Three examples: 1. The American diet. You have an epidemic of kids with obesity and things like type II diabetes (previously referred to as "adult onset" diabetes). 2. You point out video games in your examples, and while I don't believe that video games are "rotting our brains", kids have become much more physically sedentary over the past 50 years with lots of measured negative consequences. 3. Smoking. And the thing I think that is particularly frightening about "screen time" is that apps and programs are designed by some very intelligent people whose sole goal is to hook you into spending more time in the app.
- dagenix 7y ago
  > The America diet This is super vague. > while I don't believe that video games are "rotting our brains", kids have become much more physically sedentary over the past 50 years with lots of measured negative consequences But where is the evidence that video games are a decline in physical health? I could just as easily blame couch cushions that are too comfy. But that doesn't mean that we should make children sit on the floor. > Smoking This isn't a moral panic, at least not as it relates to any particular generation of children. Each generation has smoked less, not more.
  - darkpuma 7y ago
    Do you earnestly expect anybody to believe that video games play no role in sedentary lifestyles?
    - dagenix 7y ago
      Do you honestly expect me to believe your claim without any citations other than it sounds reasonable to you? There are millions of things that have changed in the last X years - just picking one of them you don't like and blaming it is lazy.
      - 7y ago

baroffoos 7y ago

Some of them were real however, smoking really was a terrible idea as was sugar, fast food, and many other things.

dagenix 7y ago
So were man-eating tigers and poison ivy. You can't just make a list of things you don't like and say that that disproved my argument about a moral panic. I cited 3 specific things that parents panicked about primarily because their children were growing up differently than they had. Smoking has decreased over time - it's not unique to some particular generation of children. Fast Food really is something that parents feed to their children, not really a difference in what it means to grow up. And I don't know what to say about sugar - it still exists? I guess thats bad?
- baroffoos 7y ago
  What do you think about the moral panic about kids picking up vaping or doing drugs at music festivals?

nfoz 7y ago

To be fair, not everyone "survived" videogames. I know plenty of people who got "trapped" by them as young adults and some lost years to it or never really moved on. By which I mean, had them as an addiction/escape from developing social skills or confronting other responsibilities.

dagenix 7y ago
So, these people you know who got "trapped" - if it wasn't for videogames, they would have had no issues?
- claudiawerner 7y ago
  That's really beside the point. GP isn't arguing that video games are the sole source of their problems, only that video games could make it worse. And even then, I can easily imagine situations in which without video games they would have been fine. Since video gaming can be an addiction, perhaps you could compare it to other addictions like alcohol. While you could say that an alcoholic already had an addictive personality so you can't blame the alcohol, it seems really odd to excuse the role of the addictive substance in the first place. Nobody is arguing that alcohol or video games be banned.

hn_throwaway_99 7y ago

I think this is a really bad argument, mainly because it ignores the things that people "panicked" about that actually did end up having horrible consequences for society. Three examples: 1. The American diet. You have an epidemic of kids with obesity and things like type II diabetes (previously referred to as "adult onset" diabetes). 2. You point out video games in your examples, and while I don't believe that video games are "rotting our brains", kids have become much more physically sedentary over the past 50 years with lots of measured negative consequences. 3. Smoking. And the thing I think that is particularly frightening about "screen time" is that apps and programs are designed by some very intelligent people whose sole goal is to hook you into spending more time in the app.

dagenix 7y ago
> The America diet This is super vague. > while I don't believe that video games are "rotting our brains", kids have become much more physically sedentary over the past 50 years with lots of measured negative consequences But where is the evidence that video games are a decline in physical health? I could just as easily blame couch cushions that are too comfy. But that doesn't mean that we should make children sit on the floor. > Smoking This isn't a moral panic, at least not as it relates to any particular generation of children. Each generation has smoked less, not more.
- darkpuma 7y ago
  Do you earnestly expect anybody to believe that video games play no role in sedentary lifestyles?
  - dagenix 7y ago
    Do you honestly expect me to believe your claim without any citations other than it sounds reasonable to you? There are millions of things that have changed in the last X years - just picking one of them you don't like and blaming it is lazy.
    - 7y ago