OT: kids and screen time.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by XXtwindad

I’m constantly fretting that my girls are spending too much time in front of a computer screen (games/educational programs) and TV. About an hour a day. More on the weekends, especially if it’s raining. (As has been the case for the last two months in sunny CA)

I’m aware this might just be the precursor to extensive time spent on social media. Which is even more worrisome, frankly.

Anyone successful in setting strict boundaries?

I think it's a package..how are they doing otherwise? School, friends, outside activities, sports, bike riding? My grand daughters do the screen time gig but they are otherwise very active..Dance, band, softball, bikes, friends...so. PLUS an hour a day? That's way below the average.

My GDs are 9 and 11.

[cgates66]

I have kids, and my policy is no social media until their much older. It's poison.

[lavi]

Originally Posted by cgates66

I have kids, and my policy is no social media until their much older. It's poison.

concur. AND, kids seems to have multiple accounts. My 15 yo daughter has at least 3 IG accounts. Though hers seems pretty good. One covers only her art projects (it's the only way I even get to see the art). One covers her music from solo and her band. Cool stuff.

So it's bad....but has it's uses I guess.

[carpediemracing]

We do 45 minute stints, 11 year old son. We just got him Minecraft, no console game, and not much on the computer game-wise.

He watches YouTube - I will ask him to change what he's watching sometimes, but he quickly complies because I think he also knows it's not really good / productive. I let him watch Star Wars stuff, any productive stuff (Mark Robers, Steven Gould), history stuff (mainly WW2).

We watch some Disney stuff together.

I have him play my game (Lords Mobile) when we're driving. He also does Archaic Tank Warfare, the most realistic tank game I could fine.

He gets in trouble for reading too much. We sort of encouraged the idea that if he breaks his "going to bed" rule, he'd do it on books or Legos.

[Waldo62]

Originally Posted by PaMtbRider

7000 posts and you're worried about your kids spending too much time online?

Bazinga!

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by carpediemracing

We do 45 minute stints, 11 year old son. We just got him Minecraft, no console game, and not much on the computer game-wise.

He watches YouTube - I will ask him to change what he's watching sometimes, but he quickly complies because I think he also knows it's not really good / productive. I let him watch Star Wars stuff, any productive stuff (Mark Robers, Steven Gould), history stuff (mainly WW2).

We watch some Disney stuff together.

I have him play my game (Lords Mobile) when we're driving. He also does Archaic Tank Warfare, the most realistic tank game I could fine.

He gets in trouble for reading too much. We sort of encouraged the idea that if he breaks his "going to bed" rule, he'd do it on books or Legos.

What is Minecraft? Is that an educational tool? I know some kids spend gobs of time on it.

[hoonjr]

15/17 boys. It's been a struggle. After some very lackluster academic performances at the beginning of the school year I scheduled our wifi network to turn off at 8pm Sunday-Thursday. Cellphones are also turned off at the same time. Immediate academic improvement. More family conversations including them interacting with each other. Should have done this years ago. They're not terrible students nor do they lack for outside hobbies. But they are addicted to their screens.

[rzthomas]

8 and 5 year old girls. For better or worse, we all do about 60-75 minutes of entertainment-centric screen time a day, more on the weekend. The time comes after dinner, and dinner is preceded by outside time/walk/structured sport. However, during stupid hot Alabama summers, we definitely spend the afternoons indoors out from the heat and reading or watching something.

The oldest usually will play some sort of learning game on a computer, the youngest will watch something wholesome.

My wife and I don't model perfect behavior — during my hour I'm usually playing something on the PS5 and my wife is on her phone.

BUT, when the time is up, it's up.

The oldest tells me that she has classmates with their own phones and Instagram accounts. I don't doubt it and I find that messed up.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by XXtwindad

What is Minecraft? Is that an educational tool? I know some kids spend gobs of time on it.

As an aside, I would rather have them spend some time on a challenging video game, like MineCraft than mindlessly just watching cartoons or some YT videos.

MineCraft is HUGE..and some 'pro's even play it.

What are the pros of Minecraft?

-Encouraging creativity and project planning. ...
-Reinforcing problem-solving skills. ...
-Basic programming and logic skills. ...
-Teamwork and communication. ...
-Reinforces social skills in Autistic children. ...
-Resource management. ...
-Patience and perseverance.

There are worse video games 'out there'...

[William]

When our kids were young we let them have about an hour to play video games, then we booted them outside to play. We had a large wooded property (those of you that came to the Rambles know what I'm referring to) for them to explore and play, plus many games of family catch, badminton, baseball, and riding bikes.

There was no way we were going to let them play video games all day when you can enjoy the great outdoors right out the back door.



W.

[RWL2222]

Originally Posted by XXtwindad

What is Minecraft? Is that an educational tool? I know some kids spend gobs of time on it.

Minecraft I would say is exceptionally creative and social—you can play with others. Little kids take right to it, then some never stop. I would sometimes find my guys still playing in high school (back in the boring zoom school days). It is totally low tech (dont need new or dedicated hardware) and has no shooting etc type violence.

[mstateglfr]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

As an aside, I would rather have them spend some time on a challenging video game, like MineCraft than mindlessly just watching cartoons or some YT videos.

MineCraft is HUGE..and some 'pro's even play it.


There are worse video games 'out there'...

Fully agree. Ours played the hell out of minecraft online with friends during the pandemic and it was as interactive and collaborative as if they were all in the same room.

Creative, interactive with freinds, requires give and take collaboration. I am good with 2 hours of that.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by mstateglfr

Fully agree. Ours played the hell out of minecraft online with friends during the pandemic and it was as interactive and collaborative as if they were all in the same room.

Creative, interactive with freinds, requires give and take collaboration. I am good with 2 hours of that.

Agree..it's really no different than 4 kids sitting around a game board like Monopoly or something. No parent freaks out if 4 kids sit around and play Monopoly for 3-4 hours. What's dangerous is all the damaging online crappola like FB, twitter and instagram..plus a lot of others(not on FB, twitter or insta so don't know the specifics, names of them, etc). Gotta watch out for that, IMHO.

[XXtwindad]

Thanks for all the feedback on Minecraft. Looks like it has creative and educational aspects. Still, I can't see how spending more than a couple hours a day on a video game is healthy.

[William]

Originally Posted by RWL2222

Minecraft I would say is exceptionally creative and social—you can play with others. Little kids take right to it, then some never stop. I would sometimes find my guys still playing in high school (back in the boring zoom school days). It is totally low tech (dont need new or dedicated hardware) and has no shooting etc type violence.

The whole family enjoyed MC. Mrs William and I would sometimes play it together on a Sunday night as sort of a calm activity before starting up a new week.

It is totally low tech (dont need new or dedicated hardware) and has no shooting etc type violence

Our son enjoyed playing it on line with his friends. Went pretty well...except for the one kid who built an enclosure and lured villagers into it. Then he would seal it up and pour lava into it.

"Son, you are not hanging around with that kid!"





W.