phd's will spend 5 years starring at paper
Average adult will spend 34 years of their life staring at screens
111–120 of 304 posts
Re: Average adult will spend 34 years of their life staring at screens
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
I really wish this was discussed more often. As a parent, I am constantly bombarded with people telling me I should limit my kids' "screen time." Generational skepticism of new technology is played out. Can we move on yet?
Both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates limited their kids screentime.
I don't think either of those people are well known for their excellence in parenting.
Re: Average adult will spend 34 years of their life staring at screens
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
Eyes usually look at diffusely reflected light, which has a different impact than direct light. A white reflective surface (whiteboard) in direct sunlight is 1.6cd/cm^2. Consumer monitors are ~300cd/cm^2 (I'm not sure how much bearing this actually has on eye health, this is just to illustrate how looking at a monitor and at a piece of paper is significantly different)
>A white reflective surface (whiteboard) in direct sunlight is 1.6cd/cm^2. Consumer monitors are ~300cd/cm^2 Why does it hurt my eyes to look outside after a while looking at a screen in a well lit room? (the sun is not directly visible, just buildings, trees and sky)
Because the sun is an enormous sphere of hydrogen-helium plasma with a core that's undergoing fusion just due to gravity. Even indirect sunlight is still a very large amount of light and energy.
I don't mean to sound flippant, but I think sometimes people forget just how insanely energetic stars of all sizes are.
Re: Average adult will spend 34 years of their life staring at screens
#114Well, personally I don't sit staring at a screen, I watch movies, play games, talk to people, build stuff and learn new things. You wouldn't say reading a book is "staring at paper" would you?
Such a good point. I had a small existential crisis watching programmers on YouTube/Twitch because I was focusing on the sounds of the keyboard typing and realizing that they are sitting in front of a screen typing for hours on end and how pointless it was.
The second part of my crisis was that I was no different.
After a few months of dealing with this I remembered that actually they are engaging with an entire world, and so was I. Rhetoric is so stupid sometimes.
Re: Average adult will spend 34 years of their life staring at screens
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
I really wish this was discussed more often. As a parent, I am constantly bombarded with people telling me I should limit my kids' "screen time." Generational skepticism of new technology is played out. Can we move on yet?
Yeah me too. Anecdotally with my two children, they make huge educational jumps every time we increase their screen time. Screen time for us was playing games with an educational value and watching TV with at least some educational value. Recently we've started letting the five year old watch TV purely for entertainment, and the three year old sometimes watches too, but even then, both of them suddenly got a lot bett…
I think limiting screen time is to allow young kids to concentrate on tasks for longer periods of time. This is recommended by most pediatricians.
Our kids, who are home with us and in the same room as where both me and my wife work, are able to play by themselves for the most part every weekday from 9-12pm.
Re: Average adult will spend 34 years of their life staring at screens
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah me too. Anecdotally with my two children, they make huge educational jumps every time we increase their screen time. Screen time for us was playing games with an educational value and watching TV with at least some educational value. Recently we've started letting the five year old watch TV purely for entertainment, and the three year old sometimes watches too, but even then, both of them suddenly got a lot bett…
You started out I was expecting you to be very liberal with 'screen time', especially agreeing with the GP who seemed the same. But: > The rule in our house is that you can't use a screen if the sun is up unless it's a weekend I think that's actually limiting screentime more than most US households, you aren't actually on the "no need to limit screentime" side at all!
It's important to note that we are night owls. The kids have TV basically from 7pm (when I turn on Jeopardy regardless of sunset) until they go to bed around 11pm. And during the current situation, sometimes they go to bed around 1-3am.
So they actually get a lot more screen time than most of their peers.
Re: Average adult will spend 34 years of their life staring at screens
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
Eh, I'm in camp "limit their screen time" if the screen time is all junk food. I also don't have kids, so what do I actually know? :) The only context for this opinion knowledge of the army of adults whose job it is to "maximize engagement" and give little dopamine hits. Some apps just seem predatory.
It's the parents' job to teach kids how to tell junk food from healthy food; predatory apps from apps which add value; "you're the product" from "you're consuming the product". I do this with my kid, and technology is a boon for her. However, most adults aren't qualified to make the distinction between good and evil, so their kids suffer too.
Lots of “teaching” is literally excluding from consumption for young kids. Parents know better than their kids, why entrust that kind of advanced decision making within them?
Re: Average adult will spend 34 years of their life staring at screens
#118So a few minutes ago I wrote code for a company, producing economic value. Last night I kept up with family, maintaining healthy personal relationships. Right now I'm engaging in intellectual discussion of major issues with other people. And last night I watched an episode of Mr. Robot, engaging my brain with a stimulating story. And yes, sometimes I just look at animal gifs on imgur. I see no problem continuing any…
How much of that time was caring for your eye health so you don't go blind early?
I'm 32 and needed glasses for the first time last year, just mild nearsightedness which runs in my family, and I'm actually doing better than most (my mom and sister both needed glasses as teenager).
I eat healthy/exercise and use dark-mode themes where available to minimize glare. That's it's for eye health. I wonder if the negative association of eye health to screen time is less about the screens and more about high blood pressure brought on by being sedentary. High blood pressure absolutely destroys the eyes over time.
Re: Average adult will spend 34 years of their life staring at screens
#119These stats always freak me out when you extrapolate it over the long term. The average adult will also spend 2 years commuting or an entire year of their life sitting on the toilet.
Lot's of wasted time here people. I think this also shows the power of what we can accomplish by spending 10 minutes a day doing something.
Re: Average adult will spend 34 years of their life staring at screens
#120Well, personally I don't sit staring at a screen, I watch movies, play games, talk to people, build stuff and learn new things. You wouldn't say reading a book is "staring at paper" would you?
I totally agree with you.
I also think we might want to compare. I suspect 150 years ago most people stared a shovel 34 years of their life or a clothes washing bowl etc..