Young kids on phones/tablets/tv - where do y'all roll?

[MrSquished]

I have no kids and will never. But my sister does and my older niece is 5.

I see real young kids glued to phones playing games or watching something, like in a shopping cart in a store. I do real estate photography and when I shoot a property where the client, usually the mother or nanny, is home with their kids, they are almost always on some device. Or I see pictures on FB of real young kids on tablets at home, or parked in front of a tv.

Is that healthy for them? I know it shuts them up and gives the parents some respite but is it good or no? I've definitely read some stuff on the cons, not so much on the pros.

So my niece is 5. She has never played a game on a phone or tablet ever. Sometimes my sister will show her pictures on the phone. She does not watch any tv shows regularly at all. Zero kids shows.

During football season she might see some football. I mean it's just there on the tv she isn't watching it. Or take in a cooking show when my sister and husband watch them. So very rarely. She is raising her kids with plenty of holistic intent, and an almost 100% organic diet. I kinda respect that. I disagree with some holistic mantra, but some of it is good.

Where do you lay on this issue?

 

[dullard]

https://i.imgflip.com/52nv8.jpg

Yes, technology is healthy and educational and it brings them into the current century with being comfortable in where the jobs will be.

But sticking them in front of technology (or anything else) 12 hours a day is NOT healthy. Give them variety in activities to stimulate all of their senses. Indoors and outdoors. Physical and mental. Technology and just imagination. Social and alone. Do it all. Technology is great, but needs to be done in moderation. Ignoring technology altogether does not help them in any way.

What your sister is doing is the equivalent of saying they won't be exposed to math, except at the cash register. Or they won't be exposed to reading, except for occasionally on the back of the cereal box. Excluding parts of life is not being good to a child.

 

[lxskllr]

My daughter predated smartphones and tablets, but I wouldn't have allowed them to be used out and about. That's see the world time. At home it would be fine, and I've always encouraged the use of technology. It gives them something to do since I don't have tv :^D

 

[OutHouse]

when kids get dependant on them is what upsets me. we have friends who come over and their 5 year old is begging for mommies phone 1 min after arriving. mommie gives it to her and she nose is stuck in that fucking game for hours. God forbid you take it away and the poor snowflake is bored.

 

[purbeast0]

I have a son who turns 2 in March, and we limit his "screen time" as it's called. At home he can watch TV for like an hour a day. After that we change the channel or turn it off. He usually whines for like 5 seconds then stops.

When we are in the car or out and about and he's acting up, he will get a phone and youtube just to shut him up. It's worth it for the 15 minutes or whatever so you can have some peace and quiet in those instances. We went to eat dinner, and midway through he started getting fussy, so out came youtube and I don't feel bad about it at all.

We're flying to Aruba next month and I will let him watch the tablet for the entire 4.5 hour flight if it keeps him quiet. On a flight, all bets are off and whatever is needed to be done to keep him quiet is done.

 

[purbeast0]

when kids get dependant on them is what upsets me. we have friends who come over and their 5 year old is begging for mommies phone 1 min after arriving. mommie gives it to her and she nose is stuck in that fucking game for hours. God forbid you take it away and the poor snowflake is bored.

One of the studies I was reading about this in the past year says that it's GOOD for kids to be bored. It helps their imagination and creativity.

 

[Murloc]

1 hour of cartoon network or video games a day haven't damaged the previous generations too much so that should be acceptable.

The problem is how early they start this, and what they do exactly. A serious game requires an attention span at least, other things, I'm not sure.

Also in the house, when it's raining, it's one thing, but when out and about, they should learn to wait for people to do their stuff or to take in their surroundings and find stuff to do or fiddle with, or to remember to bring something to do themselves.

Still, the fact that you're expected to be a digital native shouldn't be discounted either, so being no-tech at all isn't a good thing, it should stop by elementary school imho. You can avoid tablets and phones since they're so easy to use anyway, but access to a PC is beneficial.

If I didn't want to download demos or play online games and understand the instructions I wouldn't have learned English, or my way around Windows. Too many people don't know how to install and uninstall stuff.

We went to eat dinner, and midway through he started getting fussy, so out came youtube and I don't feel bad about it at all.

The problem is when a kid gets used to getting the phone immediately after sitting down, or else. This doesn't seem to be the case, although there are more creative alternatives like drawing and stuff, I remember going to a restaurant and they had drawing materials as part of the service, it's probably not too different from the smartphone psychologically, but maybe it's better than candy crush for brain development.

On an airplane, it's a rare event and the potential for disturbance to other passengers is huge, so educational goals shouldn't even enter the equation. Adults use the in-flight entertainment the whole flight as well.

 

[Imp]

I'm stuck on my desktop at home/work a lot so I shouldn't talk... but there's something about going mobile that bothers me. If I'm at a desk, that's one thing. To "need" to be stuck while going out, walking around, taking a dump, etc. feels like it crosses a line. The worst is when socializing with someone in public and they are on their phone at a table or in an elevator.

 

[MrSquished]

One thing to watch out about children's tv programming is there tends to be a lot of advertising in them, similar to how product placement works. Some countries in Europe ban advertising to young children. And even if the show is ok, the advertisements aren't. These marketers aren't spending good coin advertising to kids if it doesn't work at a young age.

 

[MrSquished]

I randomly just encountered this on the web. It's kind of the flip side of my post, and still has to do with kids. Daycare services telling PARENTS to get off their phones when they pick up their kids. The responses have been mixed:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/02/us/phone-message-day-care-trnd/index.html

"Juliana Farris Mazurkewicz arrived at her daughter's day care in Hockley, Texas, ready to pick her up, when she saw a sign that stopped her in her tracks.

"You are picking up your child! GET OFF YOUR PHONE!!!!" read the sign, which was taped to a window.
Those were the first two lines in the page-long missive aimed at parents who appear too busy in the online world to appreciate their children in the real one.

"We have seen children trying to hand their parents their work they completed and the parent is on the phone," the sign continues. "We have heard a child say 'Mommy, mommy, mommy ...' and the parent is paying more attention to their phone than their own child. It is appalling."

So Mazurkewicz picked up her phone (yes, the irony) and took a picture of it. Then she put the pic on Facebook, where it's been shared a staggering 1.3 million times since she posted it on Friday.

Mazurkewicz said she's not angry at the day care, which she declined to name, for putting up the sign.
"I was a bit shocked, but I didn't feel any negativity towards the day care," she told CNN. "I know that the staff has the best interests of the children in mind, even to the point where they are willing to offend the parent."

Mixed reaction
Mazurkewicz hadn't heard what the reaction was from the other parents, but she was curious to know what they thought.
The comments and reactions to her post were decidedly mixed.

One parent seemed to agree with the day care's message, saying "You can't take a minute to greet your child and ask how their day went? Sad."
Another thinks day care workers should have better things to worry about than when someone is using their phone.
"This is ridiculous," the commenter wrote. "Who is anyone to tell a child's parent not to use their phone? They might be working? Or have an emergency or anything else that's none of their business.""

 

[Red Squirrel]

I guess it's kinda like Game Boys in my time. But now they can snapchat or faceapp or whatever all these apps are that kids use now days. But what surprises me more is how parents are paying for all these phones. That's a lot of money, and a reoccurring cost, at that. At $60/mo for a typical data plan, that adds up fast if you have several kids and have a cell of your own.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I think removing batteries and connecting all devices to treadmills/stationary bikes is the way to go.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Eh, it is annoying at times when they act like complete brats about it. I've seen some pretty big tantrums over ipads, etc, but remember when we were all kids, our parents said the same things, and we watched tv and played games...a hell of a lot more than 1 hour a day. Sure we did other things too, but they also cried "you're ruining your children" back then too, but I didn't turn out a self centered laying on the ground pounding my fists person. I have people skills.

 

[JulesMaximus]

The key is balance. My son gets bored playing games so he'll go ride his bike to the beach with friends instead. We make sure he is doing his school work assignments and getting decent grades but we don't really limit him on anything unless we feel he is slipping in other areas. Last weekend I took him to the Classic car show in Los Angeles with a couple friends of mine. He walked around half the day with us, went to lunch with us, never complained once. We included him in our conversations whenever possible. I think he was probably a little bored with it though...

 

[cyclistca]

"This is ridiculous," the commenter wrote. "Who is anyone to tell a child's parent not to use their phone? They might be working? Or have an emergency or anything else that's none of their business.""

An emergency ok. Anything else sorry but your kid should be more important they anything you are doing for work.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I think removing batteries and connecting all devices to treadmills/stationary bikes is the way to go.

That would actually not be a bad idea and not that unrealistic to setup. Well keep the battery but set it up so they can only charge it with the bike. Some kind of proprietary connector or something.

 

[TwiceOver]

We have a family movie night on Friday nights and our Son is allowed to use his tablet for about 3 hours each day Saturday and Sunday. This allows us to sleep in on the weekends and have our own time. Otherwise, during the week no TV and no tablet/computer.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Its like anything - too much is unhealthy. But some is probably ok.

In my house we strictly limit screen time for kiddos. They get to watch one show before bed on weekdays, and on weekends they can play for an hour on some kind of device per day. We do make exceptions and allow device usage for educational activities. E.g., we allow my son to play "Prodigy, Math Wizard" on a tablet at home during the week, as it keeps him interested in math and he is already almost 2 grades ahead of where he should be in that subject.

 

[luv2liv]

No TV. No tablets nor phones for my 2yo. I can't imagine those are good for his eyes or social skills. He runs around the house playing with physical toys and stuff to build things.
It does look very abnormal when I see kids sitting together and not interact with each other. They looked brain washed or brain dead just glued to their screens

 

[JulesMaximus]

By the way, my son is 14 years old. He has had a phone for 3 years now. He also spent 2 weeks travelling through England and Scotland last June.

 

[Staples]

I only let my 4 year old son play 3 hours of video games a day max. And that is if his behavior is acceptable (which it is never). He watches cartoons a bit but gets boarded and spends most of the day bugging the shit out of me. Hope this pays off.

 

[vi edit]

I've got a 5 year old and an 8 year old. My 5 year old really only has access to an Ipad when we are in the car. We do quite a few road trips a year that are 6+ hours in duration. We'll let him use an iPad with movies on it for about 2 movies (3'ish hours) of that travel. He doesn't use it at home otherwise. There is *very* little TV time during the week. It might be a total of an hour between Monday and Friday nights and that's more for me or my wife to get dinner made or other things done around the house and keep him occupied for a bit. TV is treated as an absolute "treat" throughout the week and is very monitored.

My 8 year old has been using iPads longer. She was playing angry birds on an iPad since she was three. Same deal with her on car time. 2-3 hours and that's it. Otherwise it's read or just look out and observe things. She's a massive book worm and at 3rd grade is reading 600+ page middle school books. I picked her up a cheap chromebook for christmas and she plays games, listens to music, and does some limited youtube stuff on it. I let her on it more often than my younger kid has access to electronics. She gets maybe 4-5 hours through the week on a tablet or chromebook. She does a lot of games (like city builders or minecraft) that are actually pretty thoughtful and promote creativity so I'm fine with her binging on those a bit more. I really restrict youtube time and tell her to turn it off if she's done more than 20 minutes of it. If she does more she loses the chromebook.

On the weekends we're a little less restrictive. We let them watch TV in the morning so we can either workout or get a bit more sleep. They'll get an hour or two of screentime depending on how early they get up. And then my older one will get a bit more time when the younger is taking a nap. We're knee deep in a basement remodel right now so we've been letting them binge a bit more than my liking just so I can get work done. But that's on me more than them.

My wife is really the worst one. And needs some sort of intervention. Woman can't even brush her teeth without a phone in her hand. It sends terrible signals to the kids and has been a topic of many fights in the house. It gets better for a while, then it regresses. My kids are going to know their mother by the top of her head because her face is down in a phone.

 

[KeithP]

We are seeing kids raised this way starting to have vision problems in early (relatively) adulthood and it is only going to get worse. Buy stock in companies that make glasses and contacts.

-KeithP

 

[MrSquished]

Randomly just saw this in my FB feed. Interesting article on kids and technology focusing on folks who are players in the tech field, but have kids. The images that aren't loading are text so to get the full effect of the article click on the link below.

https://www.howtomotivation.com/2016/06/steve-jobs-didnt-let-kids-use-ipads-shouldnt-either/

"Why Steve Jobs Didn’t Let His Kids Use Ipads, And Why You Shouldn’t Either
June 22, 2016
253
If you fall within the Gen-Y era like us, chances are you’ve given a bunch of thought as to how you would raise your own children in this day and age (assuming you don’t have children already). Especially with the rise of technology, so much has changed since our childhoods in the 80s and 90s. Do we really need all of the latest gadgets and devices? Will we allow of children to be consumed by new technologies like the iPad?

Steve Jobs wouldn’t, and for good reason too. Even the founder of Apple knows when to drawn the line. Without a doubt, technology can enhance our lives. But when it is abused, it can become a destructive addiction. According to a study done in 2013, 38% of children in the United States under the age of 2 have used an iPhone or an iPad. In other words, babies are now becoming familiar with gadgets before they are familiar with forming proper sentences.

About 1/3rd of children between the ages of 8 and 10 have their own cellphones. Is this really necessary? In a Sunday article, New York Times reporter Nick Bilton said he once assumingly asked Jobs, “So your kids must love the iPad?”. Of course, the owner of Apple would make sure his kids had all of the top of the line devices, right?

Steve Jobs responded:

“THEY HAVEN’T USED IT. WE LIMIT HOW MUCH TECHNOLOGY OUR KIDS USE AT HOME.”

Especially in Silicon Valley, there is actually a trend of tech execs and engineers who shield their kids from technology. They even send their kids to non-tech schools like the Waldorf School in Los Altos, where computers aren’t found anywhere because they only focus on hands-on learning.

There is a quote that was highlighted in The Times by Chris Anderson, CEO of 3D Robotics and a father of five. He explains what drives those who work in tech to keep it from their kids.

“MY KIDS ACCUSE ME AND MY WIFE OF BEING FASCISTS AND OVERLY CONCERNED ABOUT TECH, AND THEY SAY THAT NONE OF THEIR FRIENDS HAVE THE SAME RULES… THAT’S BECAUSE WE HAVE SEEN THE DANGERS OF TECHNOLOGY FIRSTHAND. I’VE SEEN IT IN MYSELF, I DON’T WANT TO SEE THAT HAPPEN TO MY KIDS.”

If our current addictions to our iPhones and other types of tech is any indication, we may be setting up our children for incomplete, handicapped lives devoid of imagination, creativity, social intelligence, and wonder when we hook them onto technology at an early age. We were the last generation to play outside precisely because we didn’t have smartphones and laptops. We learned from movement, hands-on interaction, and we absorbed information through books and socialization with other humans as opposed to a Google search.

Should we raise our children on technology?

So, should we be more worried that we are robbing our children of the ability to Snapchat and play “Candy Crush”all day if we don’t hand them a smartphone? Or should we more worried that we would be robbing them of a healthy personal development if we do hand them a smartphone? I think Steve Jobs had it right in regard to his kids.

Overuse of technology have been known to cause high temper, decreased patience, decreased writing skills, and has even been linked to things like ADHD, obesity, and brain tumors.

So the next time you think about how you will raise your kids, you may want to (highly) consider not giving them whatever fancy technology available as they are growing up. Play outside with them and surround them with nature. They might hate you, but they will absolutely thank you for it later.

Here’s to everyone whose childhood is filled with memories of playing outside, instead of memories of having their faces glued to a screen.

source: http://www.spiritscienceandmetaphys...s-kids-use-ipads-and-why-you-shouldnt-either/

 

[jtvang125]

It's amazing and scary at the same time that 3 yr olds can navigate smartphones and tablets to get to what they want. By 4 or 5 they can search youtube videos just by knowing a few letters cause of youtube's search suggestions. They can be on it for hours as youtube continually suggest related videos.

Another thing I've noticed as well is that kids will rather watch videos of other people playing video games than play it themselves.