Tech Execs Who Raise Their Kids Tech-Free or Limit Their Screen Time

Re:Tech Execs Who Raise Their Kids Tech-Free or Limit Their ... by tomhallett on Friday December 30, 2022 @12:42PM (#34187468)

For Christmas, I bought my kids a physical set of encylopedias [1], usually $600, but black friday sale for $400. My son wanted to know "What are the top 30 soccer teams in the world cup all time?". Instead of googling it, which would have given him a listacle article with random facts and other clickbait, the encyclopedia had:

* Winners and runners up for the past 15 world cups * a break down of soccer per continent, comparing and contrasting them

He then went and totaled how many wins different countries have gotten....

For a family like mine which can afford $400 for a set of books, this has been an amazing purchase which is a far superior first step to "pull out an ipad and google it".

[1]: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0716601214

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tech Execs Who Raise Their Kids Tech-Free or Limit Their ... by core-utility on Friday December 30, 2022 @12:46PM (#34187522)

And for families who can't afford $400, library cards are free.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tech Execs Who Raise Their Kids Tech-Free or Limit Their ... by tester457 on Friday December 30, 2022 @04:28PM (#34190317)

And for families without access to libraries, torrents are free

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tech Execs Who Raise Their Kids Tech-Free or Limit Their ... by tomhallett on Monday January 09, 2023 @01:08PM (#34313644)

Totally agree. I try to take them to the library often, but (for families who can afford it) the convenience is nice because they can research something on their own without a trip to the library - at which point they probably would have lost interest. My goal is to tighten feedback loops for learning and discovery, without using a computer.

Questions they've answered which probably wouldn't have risen to the level of "let's go to the library today/tomorrow":

* what are the signs of the Chinese zodiac? which one am i?

* what is the different between a trademark and a copyright? why does it say "R" vs "TM"? (I gave an answer off the type of my head, but they clearly weren't happy with it.... haha)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tech Execs Who Raise Their Kids Tech-Free or Limit Their ... by Delfwood on Friday December 30, 2022 @01:49PM (#34188429)

> Winners and runners up for the past 15 world cups

The information your son has access to is outdated.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tech Execs Who Raise Their Kids Tech-Free or Limit Their ... by somekyle2 on Friday December 30, 2022 @04:22PM (#34190268)

If the 2021 encyclopedia is outdated, so is almost every fact in my head about the broader world.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tech Execs Who Raise Their Kids Tech-Free or Limit Their ... by tomhallett on Monday January 09, 2023 @01:02PM (#34313531)

While I do agree that information in books can/will be out of date, I find the critique in this case funny because he was watched the world cup final game. So he knew who the winner/runner up was and added them to the bottom of his paper.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tech Execs Who Raise Their Kids Tech-Free or Limit Their ... by mrpf1ster on Friday December 30, 2022 @01:55PM (#34188493)

I credit my entire software engineering career to the my ability to effectively use a search engine and find resources on the internet.

Nowadays Google is filled with ads and fake sites, but maybe a subscription to something like Kagi (https://kagi.com/) would be worthwhile?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tech Execs Who Raise Their Kids Tech-Free or Limit Their ... by tomhallett on Monday January 09, 2023 @01:09PM (#34313669)

Thanks for the recommendation about kagi - I'll check it out. :)

[ Parent | on HN ]