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this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2023
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I find it much more worrying to see kids constantly on ipads and shit. Like how it's much more concerning to see a child smoking than an adult smoking.
I don't blame the parents btw. Everyone is tired, child care is unaffordable. Society atomizes us and keeps us away from our extended families that would have provided childcare in the past. A one-income family is basically impossible for most people.
I might get shit for it, but I'll bring it up anyway: I do feel sad when I see very small children visually locked into a tablet and just zoning out on it instead of taking in the world around them or the people in it, including at playgrounds or other places where such small children could and should be experiencing new things.
One of the most distressing moments I've seen of that was when one such kid's mom tried to take away the tablet with some soft words and an urging for them to go play on the swings instead and the kid threw a violent tantrum on the spot, kicking and thrashing and red in the face screaming.
Holy shit. My kids love playing games and watching things on devices, but it always takes at least 30 minutes to get them anywhere near willing to leave the playground.
I grew up playing games all the time, and I still spend a lot of free time playing games. But the whole family ALSO uses these devices for creative endeavors. They started doing animations, mini-movies, digital art, music, etc. When they show an interest in new things we try to encourage them to pursue it at least to see if they find enjoyment and fulfilment.
I used to comfort myself by saying that I watched a lot of TV when I was a kid and I grew up okay, but TV wasn't available anywhere on demand.
Also, at least TV tends to have a narrative that's supposed to hold a kid's attention and might be educational. YouTube is just nonsense lights and sounds for 60 seconds at a time.
I know the usual take is "they said the same thing about radio before TV, too," as if there's no material or for that matter consequential difference between tuning in for something and doing something else until that something is on and having curating algorithms constantly shoveling targeted slop the consumer's way.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure that screen time and internet access restrictions on minors like China is imposing are probably the way forward, but they'll never happen in the West because the social media oligarchs control the government.
Some of it is ground level "DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DOOOOOOOOOOOO"
from Burgerlander parents too. Another example of that in action was when even mild social distancing and mask requests made a lot of Burgerlanders storm government buildings and blockade hospitals.
IMO this kind of reflexive and unconditional individualism is one of the core causes of Western social rot.
Yup turns out having a majority of your population think "it's me verses society" isn't great for that society.
Extra hilarious how Americans will tell you about how it's a part of Chinese culture to fuck other people over to get ahead as they raise millions of people out of poverty every year.
Meanwhile in America people don't support universal Healthcare because other people might benefit from it.
I think so too, and judging by the "no veggies at dinner, no bedtimes" outbursts that blow up around here sometimes, Hexbear isn't immune to it either.
Do people on Hexbear post that stuff unironically? I think I've only seen it dunked on.
Not in those exact words, no, but one example I can immediately think of was the cairn struggle session where some contrarians said they'd be pleased to stack rocks (at the expense of local environments and their ecosystems) just to stick it to the "scolds" was in the same spirit, just spiteful petty bullshit for freedom's sake.
The "homework is slavery" struggle session was particularly embaressing.
Unfortunately there’s no established rule book on how kids should deal with devices and denying them entirely often alienates them from their peers. I push my kids to use creative apps. Educational apps are nice but those have always had a knack for seeming like adult propaganda to trick you into learning in your downtime. But drawing, animation, video editing, writing, etc? All full of great free apps that will occupy their attention for hours and are still way easier to disengage from than, say, Roblox. It feels less like a vice to yank them away from and more like a cultivation of hobbies to balance out their activities. My oldest is extremely physically active and loves playing outside on their own despite having intense ADHD that would stereotypically have them glued to a device. They also create fan fiction, write original comics, and draw constantly. A lot of that is on the iPad.
100% agree on the creative apps thing, similarly whenever I meet a kid at work (I like to treat kids with respect and if they talk to me about their interests I try to engage them like I would a peer) I always try to recommend games like Kerbal Space Program, or Space Engineers if they bring up videogames for example. Kids want to do what they want to do and what we can do is at least guide them to the sort of stuff we wish we had as a kid that might also be healthy activities in a sea of unhealthy and predatory options.
KSP is spyware https://spyware.neocities.org/articles/ksp
One of mine was like this for a while. Self regulation is a hard skill to learn, especially that young, with ADHD, and in the face of this magic dopamine box. They’re doing a lot better now. Healthy habits and some new coping strategies have done wonders and done so on their terms.
My nephew was like that for a bit but the thing that stuck with me was when his parents joked about him having "ipad withdrawal."