4 ms·

Attempts to reason with them or ban internet have just met with stroppiness. Its like they have moved from being creators to being consumers.

nekopa 12y ago
Maybe attempt to work with their consumption. I they like watching kids TV shows online, show them how to download the videos and edit them. Maybe they can cut out parts they find boring at first, then move onto making a best of version from a season to eventually remixing the shows into something completely new. There's some fairly decent and easy video editing software nowadays - all drag and drop - that could be fun for them to explore, while still being able to consume. The good thing is that this could be a gentle intro to critical thinking - ie analysing a show to say what they like and don't like and why - then move on to them creating a better version for themselves... The tech skills could come later when they bump into barriers to doing what they want - eg not enough RAM or harddrive space, so they then have to tinker to get the system to do what they want. Just an idea..
- JoshTriplett 12y ago
  > Maybe attempt to work with their consumption. I they like watching kids TV shows online, show them how to download the videos and edit them. For instance, show them some of the better abridged series, and suggest that they make their own.
jdpage 12y ago
Straight-up banning them probably isn't productive, because yeah, it's nice to sit back and watch some TV sometimes. It might be a better policy to just limit the amount of consuming time. My parents had limits on consumer computer/TV time when I was growing up (interestingly, both drew from the same pool of time even before internet TV was A Thing). If I wanted to hop on the computer, I'd always get asked what I was planning on doing with it (and then they'd drop by the computer station later to check in on whether I was actually doing that). If I was doing something educational, like reading up on a hobby, doing schoolwork, or programming, then I wouldn't be subject to any screen-time restrictions (other than those that came with it being a shared computer). Though to a certain extent, kids just get stroppy if they don't get their way, and sometimes they just need to learn to deal. Which sucks for everyone involved in the short-term, but oh well. :/

nekopa 12y ago

Maybe attempt to work with their consumption. I they like watching kids TV shows online, show them how to download the videos and edit them. Maybe they can cut out parts they find boring at first, then move onto making a best of version from a season to eventually remixing the shows into something completely new. There's some fairly decent and easy video editing software nowadays - all drag and drop - that could be fun for them to explore, while still being able to consume. The good thing is that this could be a gentle intro to critical thinking - ie analysing a show to say what they like and don't like and why - then move on to them creating a better version for themselves... The tech skills could come later when they bump into barriers to doing what they want - eg not enough RAM or harddrive space, so they then have to tinker to get the system to do what they want. Just an idea..

JoshTriplett 12y ago
> Maybe attempt to work with their consumption. I they like watching kids TV shows online, show them how to download the videos and edit them. For instance, show them some of the better abridged series, and suggest that they make their own.

jdpage 12y ago

Straight-up banning them probably isn't productive, because yeah, it's nice to sit back and watch some TV sometimes. It might be a better policy to just limit the amount of consuming time. My parents had limits on consumer computer/TV time when I was growing up (interestingly, both drew from the same pool of time even before internet TV was A Thing). If I wanted to hop on the computer, I'd always get asked what I was planning on doing with it (and then they'd drop by the computer station later to check in on whether I was actually doing that). If I was doing something educational, like reading up on a hobby, doing schoolwork, or programming, then I wouldn't be subject to any screen-time restrictions (other than those that came with it being a shared computer). Though to a certain extent, kids just get stroppy if they don't get their way, and sometimes they just need to learn to deal. Which sucks for everyone involved in the short-term, but oh well. :/