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Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids

blog.smartere.dk

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Re: Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids

#121

Post by k2enemy »

palmotea wrote: post #32

There are some off-the-shelf products that work similarly in the audio space: https://us.yotoplay.com/ https://us.tonies.com/ I had plans to build something that for the TV, but having kids means I never had the time. And honestly, that might not have been such a bad thing since it made setting limits easier. I was able to teach my kid to turn the TV off when she was fairly young (and pause more recently), which seem…

These are also easy to DIY with a raspberry pi, rfid card reader, some blank cards, and phoniebox [0] for the software. I don't have much electronics experience and had it up and running fairly easily for under $40.

[0] https://github.com/MiczFlor/RPi-Jukebox-RFID

Re: Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids

#122

Post by stavros »

rspoerri wrote: post #115
stavros wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, thanks for elaborating.

Understanding of what is happening is often very limited. When I read books or talk to her, I sometimes use words that are unknown to her, she only started asking for the meaning of them recently (she just turned 3). So she will probably only understand 20%-30% even when she understands conversations quite well at home. She is still missing cultural context. She is only starting to understand the difference between a…

But that's an issue with the content, not the medium, right? There will be shows geared exactly towards kid that age that teach them the right lessons.

Re: Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids

#124

Post by WorldMaker »

elzbardico wrote: post #91

Floppy disks are getting hard to come by, and will soon be too expensive. A good option would be to have the same data printed as QR codes in labels glued to small domino sized wood blocks that could be inserted in a slot in a box and read by a cheap camera module.

Someone else posting to HN used cheap flash cartridges for a "music player" like this. There is something to be said about having a ROM or ROM-like media that can store even a few megabytes of data rather than QR codes being relatively bandwidth limited and so often needing a URL to data or more URLs.

The article points out there is a useful lesson in accidentally destroying/losing a physical object in the way that floppies or VHS tapes were easy to accidentally destroy and taught young childhood lessons. QR codes are a bit harder to destroy, which can be a benefit, but also loses this tiny lesson.

Re: Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids

#125

Post by SoftTalker »

c22 wrote: post #66
mrighele wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has anybody ever been able to program a VCR ?

Although the trope is hilarious I think most people just don't bother since it doesn't matter to them. I never had a problem setting the time on my VCR and using it to automatically record shows while I was at work.

Yes it was no more difficult than setting any other digital clock. Even today, my microwave, kitchen radio, and several other devices all read "12:00" because I just don't bother to reset them every time there is a power glitch.

Re: Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids

#126

Post by peteey »

rspoerri wrote: post #72

My 3 year old watched TV for the first time for 2 minutes in her life (it was hard hiding it from her in an airplane on an overhead screen) and I can tell that TV is generally bad for kids at that age.

Generally agreed. Though, Daniel Tiger and Paw Patrol should be judged differently. Paw Patrol is mindless and addictive.

If you desperately need a distraction, PBS shows are less bad. A few moments of pacification may be worth not disturbing the other airline travelers.

Daniel Tiger may be helpful to parents too. Interacting with children is not intuitive. Techniques from PBS shows have helped me. For example, singing to kids about trying food is move effective than a well reasoned monologue.

Re: Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids

#127

Post by ncallaway »

rspoerri wrote: post #94
stavros wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can you tell? What's the thing that made you say "this is bad for her", and why is it not the same for you?

She was so focussed on it and started crying when we hid it after only a very short time. This is not normal a behaviour. This only happens with things that are very addictive (also for example sugar). I do understand that not everybody can do it like that, but if you can create such an environment it's much better for them (in my opinion).

My approach to these kinds of things is different: these are really important opportunities to teach moderation and to teach the social skills of learning to have fun things in moderation.

I think it's quite important to introduce these addictive things into their lives, in a way that teach how to enjoy them carefully and in small chunks.

Re: Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids

#128

Post by mrweasel »

tete wrote: post #3

> Modern TVs are very poorly suited for kids. They require using complicated remotes or mobile phones, and navigating apps that continually try to lure you into watching something else than you intended to. I'd argue that's not too different for grown-ups. ;)

It's not just the TV, it's the weird take that tuners are bad, apparently. I helped my mother-in-laws friend, a lady in her 60s, getting her TV working after a move. The local cable providers don't care to offer their coax solution anymore, you need their box. To be fair, the box is nice enough, but it's way more complicated than simply hooking up the tuner.

Modern Samsung TV are also awful, there's no longer a source button on the remote, so you have to use their terrible UI to navigate to the bottom of the screen, guess which input you want, which takes 10 - 15 seconds. If you can find it in their horribly busy UI.

Re: Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids

#129

Post by bethekidyouwant »

sigmonsays wrote: post #84
stavros wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can you tell? What's the thing that made you say "this is bad for her", and why is it not the same for you?

their vision is still developing and staring at a screen is not good for eye development. it removes stimulation and interaction with the environment and replaces it with sedentary and no physical interactions. While the exact reasons are not common knowledge, knowing TV is bad for toddlers is.

It’s bro-science all the way down. What if your environment is a boring room?

Re: Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids

#130

Post by vel0city »

doubled112 wrote: post #76
SoftTalker wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

QR codes on cards would work as well, if I'm understanding what this project is. The floppy disk approach has some nostalgia maybe but seems quite fragile. I quickly learned to never let my kids handle CDs/DVDs (one of the worst physical media designs ever; they are totally unprotected) as they would quickly become damaged and unplayable. Floppy disks are at least sort of protected but the same idea applies.

I still have a large number of working CDs from when I, myself, was a kid. DVDs too but they were later and more durable. I’ve always wondered what people are doing to them? Maybe I just got lucky. Maybe I was just careful with them. Maybe I don’t remember the ones that failed. I don’t think kids are less careful now, although being screamed at for making the CD or record skip was probably a deterrent.

Some people really get the idea of only handling it around the edges. Lots of other people just handle them however they want and have no problems touching the media anywhere. Especially kids, which often don't have the cleanest hands at any given moment.

Lots of kids will handle them however they want. They'll pick them up with greasy, sticky hands right on the media section. They won't necessarily care about ensuring they're properly in the drive tray. They'll jam all kinds of things into the drive slots. They'll drop them on the floor and step on them, toss them in a toy box when told to clean their room, etc.

Obviously not all kids will be this way, but many will.

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