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Nerd dad here. This is hard. You can lead a horse to water but can't make them drink. Meta Quest is the only tech that's being used as a tool in my house. Every
by bluSCALE4 2y ago
Nerd dad here. This is hard. You can lead a horse to water but can't make them drink. Meta Quest is the only tech that's being used as a tool in my house. Everything else are used as toys. I've even tried to restrict games heavily and it still was tough. Basically, some kids will not seek out education things even if they are installed. This was not my upbringing. I would eventually bore of games and looked for educational things like Dangerous Creatures, Microsoft Bob, Encarta, etc. But I am not seeing the same in my kids.
- cjk2 2y agoCrap time is fine. Not everything has to have educational value or they will get burned out. Variety is the problem.
- ricardobeat 2y agoTheir comment implies that very little time is spent in educational content (all the time is “crap time”), which is the other extreme. What do you mean by variety is the problem?
- cjk2 2y agoWell I should say lack of variety. Games are healthy, communications are healthy, education is healthy. Too much of any of those at the sacrifice of any other is not.
- jay_kyburz 2y agoI have two boys 10 and 12. Same upbringing, same household culture, same screen time rules. The young one loves programming in Scratch, building levels in Roblox, creating music, exploring all kinds of creative projects. The older one has tried it all out, but prefers to just play games.
- cjk2 2y agoYeah I only played games as well. They teach you how to solve problems. I am grateful for this.
- WheatMillington 2y agoI can already see this disparity forming between my two boys, 7 and 4. It's remarkable how different they are for kids brought up in identical conditions.
- lovethevoid 2y agoIt is hard, but don't forget that toys are learning tools too! You can learn a lot without overtly feeling like you're studying. An example is playing a "learn math" game vs playing Slay the Spire which innately includes a lot of math you have to grasp. Or Hue to understand color theory and color grading without it ever feeling like a "lesson". Kerbal Space Program for basic physics, Portal for momentum and logic (Portal 2 can be great for coop sessions where they figure out how to collaborate and communicate through tough problems that seem impossible). A lot of the lack of curiosity is because so many kids are taught to view curiosity as boring, rather than fostering that curiosity as just another form of play. There are even things like minecraft plugins/servers where text is translated to a language of your choice, and everyone is encouraged to use only that language to collaborate which can be such an exponentially fast way to learn languages without ever feeling like it's a chore. So don't be afraid to seek out things that blur the lines between education and play! Foster that creativity and curiosity.
- bluSCALE4 2y agoI've done most of those things but they don't take. For some reason, grind games, pointless games take. Some educational games took but not many. Not enough.