Boredom can be filled with... books! I think that going for a "personal computing device" first is in general a bad idea and I'm really glad for the first ~14 years of my life I also didn't have any because I'm not sure I would have had the self control to avoid just getting suckered in, and I feel lucky I developed a reading habit instead.

Nah. I had plenty of books, and I was a pretty heavy reader as a kid, but I still had way more boredom than I was happy with. As soon as I got access to Wikipedia, though, the number of words I read per day skyrocketed.

>I'm just old enough to have spent the first ~14 years of my life without any personal computing devices, and I remember the boredom being agonizing.

If you lived in a farm 200 miles from any kid in rural Nebraska maybe. And even there there would be tons of adventures to have on one's own.

Trying to argue around the circumstances of a one-line anecdote is peak HN. Your experience of the world doesn't invalidate theirs, and vice versa.

Right. But if we interpret parent charitably they probably agree with you. The device itself isn’t evil, and the internet isn’t either. However, 7 second videos tailor made to hijack our reward systems could very well cause developmental issues simply by taking attention from one place and moving it elsewhere.

There are adults that can’t handle slot machines. Many more seem to be unable to handle social media. I’m very seriously recommending friends and family to limit it. With children it’s more hands-on, so as a parent it wouldn’t just be recommendations.

Kids get bored of tech and TV despite unlimited access.