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Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by forinti on Thursday August 24, 2017 @03:10PM (#15093063)
All my family's meals are device-free. My kids don't even question it: they turn the TV off themselves when we call them. We have one TV in the house and it can't be turned on in the morning. The kids don't seem to suffer at all.
Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by socialist_coder on Thursday August 24, 2017 @03:14PM (#15093101)
My house is the same way, but I think you have to realize that we're in the vast minority though. Whenever I'm visiting with family in the US, their TV is usually on. It's constantly on. The kids run around with devices with very little oversight or limits. It's absolutely terrible, but's also super common. Sigh.
Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by Frank2312 on Thursday August 24, 2017 @03:58PM (#15093507)
My sister does that.

She just keeps the TV on at all times.

Watching a show on Netflix on her tablet? TV on.

Takes a shower and is in the bathroom for 30-45 minutes? TV on.

Leaves the house and someone is there, though not watching TV? Let's TV on. I have to shut it down myself.

I have absolutely no idea how she picked up that habit. No one in the (immediate) family does it.

Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by jcbrand on Friday August 25, 2017 @01:51AM (#15096401)
My impression is that people generally leave the television or radio on the entire day because they struggle with silence and being alone with their thoughts.

The same is true with social media and internet addictions, although there's also the dopamine kick to contend with, which makes them a bit different.

Practicing meditation, general mindfulness and taking long (more than a week) holidays without internet or even electricity helps me a lot to avoid getting addicted to distractions.

Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by mixmastamyk on Thursday August 24, 2017 @04:54PM (#15093969)
Some people like background noise, not a fan myself.
Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by Nition on Thursday August 24, 2017 @07:02PM (#15094818)
If pure background noise is the goal, a radio would waste a lot less electricity.
Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by TomMarius on Thursday August 24, 2017 @08:56PM (#15095346)
You're of course true, but nowadays the consumption of a TV isn't that tragic.
Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by Markoff on Friday August 25, 2017 @04:35PM (#15101979)
not so many people have dedicated radio these days compared to TV and listening radio through mobile and BT speaker is kinda PITA
Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by duderific on Thursday August 24, 2017 @06:36PM (#15094668)
It's such a slippery slope. My brother in law's twin boys (now 7) started with their own iPads at age 4. You cannot pry them out of their hands. They go everywhere with them.

I often see kids as young as 2 or 3 with iPhones in their hands while being pushed in their stroller on a walk, or at a restaurant at dinner.

We allow our 3 year old boy a small amount of screen time each day, as he spends the whole day (9-6) at day care and it helps him unwind a bit to watch Sesame Street, and gives us a chance to prepare dinner uninterrupted. But it's always under our control, we do not hand him the remote or device. Nor do we use it when we go out to eat.

Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by rayiner on Thursday August 24, 2017 @05:56PM (#15094395)
What makes it "absolutely terrible?"
Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by hycaria on Friday August 25, 2017 @05:54AM (#15097268)
Considering your other comment on this thread, it's good news if you don't consider it "absolutely terrible", your life would be quite unbearable otherwise.

I hate these environments too. I have yet to meet someone who is glued to some screen or watches tons of TV and would still attract me enough (in a purely intellectual way) to make me want to know them more, and try and pursue a relationship with them/have engaging conversations.

Doing the same task most of the time doesn't bring the best out of people (realistically, if you look at your phone during family dinners, when do you give yourself enough time to do something else without distraction ? can anything meaningful happen when you're sucked out of your own life constantly ?). Yes, you can read on your phone, yet people will more likely show you cat gifs and not interesting articles.

Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by soccerdave on Thursday August 24, 2017 @03:15PM (#15093110)
It's amazing how well kids adapt when expectations are set and they know them.

We used to let the kids watch an iPad in the car and there was always fighting because everyone wanted to watch different shows. So we took the iPad out of the car and now the kids only have books to read in the car. Since we did that car rides have been so much better.

Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by Fogest on Thursday August 24, 2017 @05:02PM (#15094032)
Do they not get car sick from reading books while driving? I remember as a kid on long car trips I would try and read but I'd always feel sick from it, however I was fine watching movies on a portable DVD player.
Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by bashinator on Thursday August 24, 2017 @08:39PM (#15095252)
Dunno why you're being downvoted - as a kid I was an avid reader. I could not read on our long car trips to visit relatives - instant nausea.
Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by grzm on Thursday August 24, 2017 @08:45PM (#15095283)
Speculation, but I suspect the down vote is due to the first sentence "Do they not get car sick from reading books while driving?" It assumes that that everyone gets sick as they do, and doesn't give their parent the benefit of the doubt that what they commented was wholly accurate.
Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by Fogest on Thursday August 24, 2017 @09:57PM (#15095564)
That's a bit ridiculous, if people are that sensitive they have different problems. I was simply asking a question about whether they get car sick or not from reading while in the car. It does not assume anything, that is exactly why I asked the question. Based on my experience that is what would happen to me, so I was curious to hear their account.
Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by grzm on Thursday August 24, 2017 @10:02PM (#15095581)
It may be ridiculous, but language use can affect how it's interpreted. And given on a forum like this the text is the only channel of information. It's communication bereft of body language and intonation, which makes it even more of a challenge. For example, do you discern a difference between the following?

> "Do they not get car sick from reading books while driving?"

> "Do they get car sick from reading books while driving?"

If so, what is it? Why would a person choose one over the other?

I hope this is coming across as useful. How communication is understood on the web is interesting to me, and understanding how to communicate effectively means also learning how we come across and how that squares with what we intend, and I fear I may not be doing a good job here. Without a response from the people who actually down voted, all we can do is try to look at how people might interpret what was written.

Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by Fogest on Thursday August 24, 2017 @10:09PM (#15095613)
In my opinion they both should have the same reaction. If someone asked me that in person or by text I see no reason why I'd be upset by that. It's a simple question and nothing else I said in the comment would suggest I was trying to be rude, so why take it that way? Why be offended when you don't need to be. Seems a bit silly to me.
Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by grzm on Thursday August 24, 2017 @10:36PM (#15095719)
I'll sign off after this. Your response puts everything on the reader rather than the writer. Yes, the reader should do as you say, but the writer also needs to take into account how the reader could interpret what's been written, not just how you think they should, and try to write in such a way as to minimize misunderstanding. Of course, all of this assumes that karma matters, the writer cares enough to put in the effort (and it's not always worth it), and that even the best crafted message will be read by every reader as good.
Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by hueving on Friday August 25, 2017 @04:05AM (#15096934)
Is English not your first language?

It's pretty clear that Fogest was asking if the kids get carsick and there was no implication that anyone was lying.

Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by robertlagrant on Friday August 25, 2017 @10:08AM (#15098520)
Yeah, there was absolutely nothing wrong - the writer had already done what could be reasonably be expected, and the remainder is now for the reader to not mess up their interpretation of a very simple question.
Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by grzm on Friday August 25, 2017 @02:35PM (#15101002)
'Fogest was down voted (or so I assume, given 'bashinator's comment). 'bashinator commented "Dunno why you're being downvoted". I speculated as to why. You apparently disagree with the reasons I proposed, which is fine. Do you have an alternative explanation? In the case the down voting was irrational or unreasonable, something caused them to choose to down vote the comment. What was it?

In my experience, questions posed as 'Fogest did ("Do they not get car sick...?") or you did ("Is English not your first language?") carry with them additional information. The neutral, default versions of these are "Do they get carsick?" and "Is English your first language?"

To me, 'Fogest's comment reads differently with only that change:

> Do they get car sick from reading books while driving? I remember as a kid on long car trips I would try and read but I'd always feel sick from it, however I was fine watching movies on a portable DVD player.

Another example is your choosing to interpret "not wholly accurate" as an "implication that [someone] was lying". If I'm misunderstanding where you got that, please do let me know, as it's not my intent to misrepresent you. What I meant by that was the implication that 'soccerdave had left out relevant information, that their kids get sick when they read in the car. As you read it as you did, is it my fault for how I phrased it? Yours for how you interpreted it? I certainly didn't use the word "lying" and "not wholly accurate" is not equivalent to "lying" Both of ours?

I'm purposefully not answering your question whether English is my first language as it's mostly irrelevant. There are people who are able to express themselves in written form in a foreign tongue much better than the vast majority of native speakers (Vladimir Nabokov and Joseph Conrad come to mind), and plenty of native speakers who aren't aware of how they come across or take particular care when they write. And English in one area is not the same as English in others. (Water fountain or bubbler? Soda? Pop? Coke?)

This is getting very far off from the original comment. I often hesitate to chime in when someone comments some variant of "I don't know why you were down voted". I think it's useful to explore possible reasons as it provides an opportunity to look at how we may come across, particularly to those who disagree with us. That said, it's a difficult place to comment because it's almost by definition a place where there's at best a misunderstanding and at worst trolling or otherwise uncharitable interpretations occurring.

Whether or not someone cares about this is another thing. People may not think that it's worth taking the time to think about or that people should always interpret what's being written in the best light possible. For constructive conversation I think this is crucial. At the same time, I think it's important to understand and take into account the context of where it's being said when commenting on an internet forum stripped of every nuance except the words themselves (perhaps tempered by the reputation of the commenter). Regardless of whether they should, not everyone is going interpret comments in a neutral way, giving the commenter the benefit of the doubt. If I want to be be effective and constructive (and avoid down votes, as that's often used as a proxy for effective and constructive), I think I should take these into account and take care in how I express myself in comments. (Thinking about it, one could posit it's an application of Postel's law to human communication.)

This is the last I'm going to comment on this here, as I don't think I've added anything that wasn't already in the thread, and it's not clear to me that your comment was made in the interest of honest, constructive conversation and giving me the benefit of the doubt.

Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by specialist on Thursday August 24, 2017 @05:01PM (#15094023)
Kids (0-8) do better when there are (predictable) boundaries. They feel more content and secure.

From 9 to 12, just have fun together.

From 13 to 25, just keep them alive.

YMMV

Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by yitchelle on Thursday August 24, 2017 @05:35PM (#15094258)
> ... it can't be turned on in the morning.

How are you doing this? I have been for a solution to this for the last few months but nothing really came up. TIA.

Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by randlet on Friday August 25, 2017 @12:33AM (#15096140)
You make a rule. This isn't a technology problem.
Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by yitchelle on Friday August 25, 2017 @02:41PM (#15101047)
My kids are the kind with the attitude that "rules are made to be broken", which I like. It's like the hacker's ethos almost.
Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by randlet on Friday August 25, 2017 @06:58PM (#15102925)
Why bother having a rule if you're not going to enforce it? I agree that questioning authority is healthy, but people also are required to follow rules on occasion and it's your job to teach them how to do that. Using a technological solution to a discipline issue is a short term bandaid for a long time problem.
Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by tisdy on Thursday August 24, 2017 @07:19PM (#15094911)
"Don't turn on the TV or <punishment>."
Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by NoGravitas on Friday August 25, 2017 @08:24AM (#15097892)
Even if our kids turned on the TV, there would be nothing to watch on it except the Chromecast homescreen. No cable, no antenna. Elder child's phone has no video apps on it except the built-in one they can play their own home videos on (maybe they could cast those to the TV?).
Re:I spent my career in tech, but wasn’t prepared for its ef... by Markoff on Friday August 25, 2017 @04:39PM (#15102015)
yeah, that's my definition of "TV" nowadays, it's just external display for content I push there, though I have smart TV with apps, so there is sort of way to display something, but not the traditional passive TV channels