Something funny happened in church yesterday . . .

[Hairfoot]

And, of course, there's a rise in ADD... which can be attributed directly to the "fast cut" and rapid scene changes in video games and children's television. ADD was extremely rare before Sesame Street... and it's not because the diagnosis was unknown.

I'm glad someone mentioned that. I watched some neo-Looney Tunes recently, and I was stunned by the garbled speed and chaos of it. I'm not sure I can agree with you about the rise in ADD - I was a hyperactive trouble child decades before it had a pathology - but cartoons are definitely feeding into it.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

My wife is an elementary teacher. She gets dismayed by the kids who only wrote about the video games they play in their writing journals. She asked them to write about other things they do, but at least one of the kids said he didn't really do anything else. She is adamant that there will never be a console game system in the house.

We limit the time my kids (8 and 5 years old) can spend watching TV or playing computer games. We also limit the types of computer games they play. ISpy, the Professor Fizzwizzle games and other "educational" games primarily. Card and board games are a staple activity; Uno and Sorry are the top choices.

Sometimes they get into a phase where all they want to do is play on the computer or watch TV (usually leading to a tantrum when we don't let them), but other times, like the past two days following after-school care, they spend the entire time until dinner playing outside without any prompting from us.

 

[Jeysie]

We limit the time my kids (8 and 5 years old) can spend watching TV or playing computer games. We also limit the types of computer games they play. ISpy, the Professor Fizzwizzle games and other "educational" games primarily.

This does remind me that most of the PC games I played were either educational (Carmen Sandiego games, whee!) or came on the compilation disks my dad got every month with his computer magazines. None of the console games me and my parents played were educational, though.

I remember all the cool educational shows, too. 3-2-1 Contact, SquareOne Television, Ghostwriter, Mr. Wizard...

I think Nyaricus summed up my childhood experiences completely. I was a big reader, a top student, and very creative as a kid, despite spending as many hours on TV and computers as I did other things. Then again, cartoons, TV, and games were different when I was a kid - more creative, less flash.

Peace & Luv, Liz

 

[LightPhoenix]

I have to agree with Jeysie and Nyacarius on this. I played video games and watched TV - and probably more than the average kid. Certainly not half an hour a day. That didn't stop me from excelling in school, playing sports, playing with my friends in the woods, or reading a lot.

I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with television or video games and their supposed effect on learning. I do think that there's something wrong with parents who don't use them for what they are - tools, and not nannies. I also think that, at least in the US, that the low attention span that is exhibited by kids today isn't because of any media, but due to a general attitude of instant gratification which is a learned behavior from the people teaching them - mainly parents.

 

[Kmart Kommando]

When I was a kid I played my share of video games (Atari, Coleco, Commodore 64), but the one thing that I never got bored with was Lego. I had a 5 gallon bucket full of it. And I'm talking about the old generic stuff not this newfangled prefab crap. THAT was a toy worth playing with.

QFT.

I had so many Legos growing up, pretty much the only toys I played with.
I had planned on handing them down to my kids, and help foster their creativity.
Unfortunately, my mom gave them to my brother's kids and they pretty much lost or ate them all. :\

(and we're talking $1000+ worth of them back then)

 

[Lord Zardoz]

Personally, I see nothing inherently wrong with the trend. Growing up myself, I did play massive amounts of video games, and had no use for the whole 'go play outside' thing. I also read alot of books, and obviously, play D&D.

Those of you who plan on restricting your children from having access to video games until they are at some arbitrary appropriate age, I would suggest you reconsider. I make those video games for a living, and my own future career hinges on hooking them while they are young. The video games industry needs your children to be mass consumers of video game entertainment so that it can continue its staggering growth. Your concern for the general mental health of your children has a very real chance of affecting our bottom line.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[megamania]

[Don't worry, this isn't about religion. Read on.]

But I fear she's a tiny minority.

Now obviously, one group of kids at my church isn't a representative sample, but it really did surprise me.

Comments?

My daughter plays video games some but also does soccer, basketball, softball and used to do ballet. Every Saturday is "family night". With the exception of an occational Heroclix game, it is traditional board games. My son however is more of a video game player and currently into Poke'mon.

Society has shifted to where parents are always busy (wife works 40+ hours and myself 75+) so video and video games are becoming the newest and strongest parenting tool. Do I dislike this- yes. But there is very little for options out there. The world is changing. I hope for the better but.... well lets just see.

 

[Shortman McLeod]

Personally, I see nothing inherently wrong with the trend. Growing up myself, I did play massive amounts of video games, and had no use for the whole 'go play outside' thing.

Yeah, that whole "physical fitness" thing is sure overrated.

 

[Mark Chance]

Don't shelter your children from all this newfangled technology.

No child's education or future prospects will be hindered by a lack of continuous access to video games. As a teacher, I'm much more concerned about the 50+% of my students every year who have been sheltered from books, grammar, basic mathematics, and at least a rudimentary sense of common decency.

 

[takyris]

Personally, I see nothing inherently wrong with the trend. Growing up myself, I did play massive amounts of video games, and had no use for the whole 'go play outside' thing. I also read alot of books, and obviously, play D&D.

Those of you who plan on restricting your children from having access to video games until they are at some arbitrary appropriate age, I would suggest you reconsider. I make those video games for a living, and my own future career hinges on hooking them while they are young. The video games industry needs your children to be mass consumers of video game entertainment so that it can continue its staggering growth. Your concern for the general mental health of your children has a very real chance of affecting our bottom line.

END COMMUNICATION

I also work in the video games industry for a living, and I'm going to assume that you were attempting to be sarcastic.

As others have said, I recommend balance in all things. I want my kid to be comfortable with computers, but I also want him to be comfortable with athletic activity. Rather than declare a video-game moratorium -- which, from what I've seen, turns it into an illicit thing he does at a friend's house where I'm not watching -- I intend to keep him on soft and friendly games, moving up into the more violent stuff with us playing together (and talking about how pretend hurting is different from real hurting and such). I also intend to do what my dad did (and what I hated at the time) and make sure that my son is doing some athletic activity until he's a teenager -- maybe organized sports, or maybe gymnastics classes or dance or whatever. Something that keeps the heartrate up.