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Re:The Case for the “Self-Driven Child” by munificent on Tuesday February 13, 2018 @01:13PM (#16369314)
I don't think it makes sense to lump all of uses of technology into a single conceptual bucket any more than it's useful to say, "Kids will use things that are made of plastic when they grow up so we shouldn't restrict access to plastic things." Watching unboxing videos on YouTube, posting selfies on Instagram (and getting judged by them), programming a videogame, compulsively clicking notifications and skimming social media feeds, reading articles on Wikipedia, playing some pay-to-Win addiction-optimized phone game, and writing a blog are completely fundamentally different activities.

Restricting "screen time" is the simplest way to reduce access to the harmful things in that list, at the cost of also filtering the nice stuff. A more sophisticated approach is probably to control which apps kids have access to and for how long, but that's a lot harder to pull off effectively.

Re:The Case for the “Self-Driven Child” by ravroid on Wednesday February 14, 2018 @12:48PM (#16377650)
I absolutely agree with this. I think that this "all screen time is unproductive" mindset can actually deny some kids the opportunity to develop technical skills and interests that could significantly benefit them later on.

I'll use myself as an example:

I grew up with parents who restricted my time spent on video games and internet use (I just spent more time playing video games at friends' houses). They did however allow me to have computers in my room that weren't connected to the internet.

I spent a lot of my early teens tinkering with my computers and learning to code. When I was around 15, I finally saved up enough money from my summer jobs to buy an iMac (and a wifi router that I convinced my parents to let me replace theirs with). I then had unlimited internet access and continued to learn IT and programming.

A few months after graduating high school, I moved cities and applied for a dev internship at a local ad agency. I had started at a community college but dropped out to accept a full-time position. Now four years later, I've held 2 lead positions at two companies and am earning a senior-level salary.

Without a doubt, I wouldn't have had that level of opportunity if I wasn't allowed to have computers growing up. I think parents are doing their kids a potential disservice by placing all forms of 'screen time' in the same category. Restricting (leisure) internet use and video games is very understandable, but I think there is real value in allowing kids 'screen time' if they have any level of interest in technology.

Re:The Case for the “Self-Driven Child” by 0xdeadbeefbabe on Tuesday February 13, 2018 @01:30PM (#16369475)
They pulled it off effectively with the personal computer of the early 90s.

Edit: Unwittingly.

Re:The Case for the “Self-Driven Child” by jonlucc on Tuesday February 13, 2018 @01:41PM (#16369578)
Maybe, but then when you turned off the computer, you might have gone to sit in front of the TV with your family, or played a board game, or talk on the phone with your friends. All of those things can happen online, and so I don't know that it's fair to compare computer usage of the 90s with computer usage today.
Re:The Case for the “Self-Driven Child” by 0xdeadbeefbabe on Tuesday February 13, 2018 @02:59PM (#16370191)
It's fair to say computer's of today can turn off as well as the computers of the 90s.
Re:The Case for the “Self-Driven Child” by Nition on Tuesday February 13, 2018 @05:35PM (#16371502)
Better really, my computer turns itself off when I shut it down now. I used to have to do it manually once it was "now safe to turn off your computer."
Re:The Case for the “Self-Driven Child” by closeparen on Wednesday February 14, 2018 @03:20AM (#16374339)
In the early 90s, your friends hadn't necessarily all moved their social lives to the computer.