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The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence

nature.com

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Re: The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence

#21

Post by the_only_law »

erfgh wrote: post #19
christophilus wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about you, but sometimes it's really nice to distract the kids while you relax.

Why can't the kids play among themselves? I have two little daughters, ages 3 and 5 and I've never had to drop them in front of something. If I have time to play with them I do (which is most days) but when I don't have time or I'm very tired or I need to do something else I tell them to play among themselves.

The places I’ve seen people plop devices in front of their kids has mostly been places you’d prefer it if kids weren’t running around.

Re: The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence

#22

Post by bennyp101 »

SnowHill9902 wrote: post #10
christophilus wrote: post #5

I’ve tried to encourage my wife to choose video games over Disney+ when she needs to drop the kids in front of something, but she still has a strong resistance to the idea that games are better. To me, it’s pretty obvious. The kids problem solve when gaming, and are obviously engaged. When watching TV, they look like zombies. I think my wife’s biggest hang up with games is that she was always told that they rot your…

Why not neither?

Sometimes my kids want to relax too.

They spend a decent amount of the week doing after school clubs/sports - so sometimes they fancy an hour of playing Mariokart or wii sports or something - I prefer that because then we can join in as well.

(Otherwise they love watching Ninjago - which tbf I don't mind that much!)

Re: The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence

#23

Post by bennyp101 »

erfgh wrote: post #19
christophilus wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about you, but sometimes it's really nice to distract the kids while you relax.

Why can't the kids play among themselves? I have two little daughters, ages 3 and 5 and I've never had to drop them in front of something. If I have time to play with them I do (which is most days) but when I don't have time or I'm very tired or I need to do something else I tell them to play among themselves.

I've found that doing that just makes it worse - they both have very strong personalities, so it ends up in war rather than letting me cook for 10 mins!

Re: The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence

#24

Post by loudmax »

trelane wrote: post #6
christophilus wrote: post #5

I’ve tried to encourage my wife to choose video games over Disney+ when she needs to drop the kids in front of something, but she still has a strong resistance to the idea that games are better. To me, it’s pretty obvious. The kids problem solve when gaming, and are obviously engaged. When watching TV, they look like zombies. I think my wife’s biggest hang up with games is that she was always told that they rot your…

Games are designed to be addictive, so restraint is a good option. So is television, though, so limiting both is a good policy. I would guess that games' interactivity and personalization lead to much more opportunities for deeper addiction, though (see e.g loot boxes.)

Limiting both is a good policy, but understanding the different games is also an important aspect here. When my kids were in elementary school I encouraged them to play Minecraft and I played with them. I didn't prevent them from playing Clash of Clans because so many of their friends were playing, but I made sure they understood how incentives were structured and how the game was designed around that.

That was ten years ago, and I still don't know if I struck the right balance. Parenting is hard. If you have young kids today it's a good idea to understand what games are popular and what their business models are.

Re: The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence

#25

Post by Spooky23 »

thr0wawayf00 wrote: post #15
Mandelmus wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Games are designed to be addictive It depends strongly on kind of game, and especially on the business model involved. Gacha games, free-to-play, and similar models are very much optimised around addictiveness. Personally I've found that story-based finite games, i.e. the ones you play through and then you've experienced it, are much better in those respects. Unfortunately those seem to become much more rare these d…

> i.e. the ones you play through and then you've experienced it, are much better in those respects. This has not been my experience at all. It's very easy for me to play a few rounds of rocket league and keep my daily game time to under an hour. When I play stuff like Zelda BOTW though, I have to use the parental controls on myself or else I'll spend half of my day on it.

In my observation, the platform matters. The iPad has a noticeable negative impact on my kids mood in ~15 minutes, and I’ve observed similar behavior with other tablets and other kids.

The PlayStation doesn’t seem to do that, although my son gets in trouble more often when it’s time to end because there is a higher level of effort to get out. But it doesn’t seem to zombify him.

Re: The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence

#26

Post by javajosh »

The only program I let my kids use is KidPix on the iPad. It's a (rather remarkable) drawing and animation program and I'm constantly amazed at what they make with it. And sometimes horrified. But the 5 yo enjoys creating scenes with sound effects (that she recorded) and animation (that she also recorded), while the 3 yo enjoys making intricate drawings and then methodically coloring everything green. It's his favorite color, and he enjoys this. Not affiliated at all, but KidPix is a great piece of software, and I wouldn't have known about it except it was on a public library computer.

My point is there is (at least) another important category of program that the researchers missed: creator software. I've also made simple songs with them with garage band, but the UI is still rather difficult for them to use it on their own. I was inspired to take this approach because my first introduction to computers was Logo on an Apple IIe, and Seymore Papert's beautiful work left a lasting impression.

Re: The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence

#27

Post by FeepingCreature »

thr0wawayf00 wrote: post #15
Mandelmus wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Games are designed to be addictive It depends strongly on kind of game, and especially on the business model involved. Gacha games, free-to-play, and similar models are very much optimised around addictiveness. Personally I've found that story-based finite games, i.e. the ones you play through and then you've experienced it, are much better in those respects. Unfortunately those seem to become much more rare these d…

> i.e. the ones you play through and then you've experienced it, are much better in those respects. This has not been my experience at all. It's very easy for me to play a few rounds of rocket league and keep my daily game time to under an hour. When I play stuff like Zelda BOTW though, I have to use the parental controls on myself or else I'll spend half of my day on it.

Short-term addictive, long-term harmless. Like traditional media.

Re: The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence

#28

Post by fullstop »

erfgh wrote: post #19
christophilus wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about you, but sometimes it's really nice to distract the kids while you relax.

Why can't the kids play among themselves? I have two little daughters, ages 3 and 5 and I've never had to drop them in front of something. If I have time to play with them I do (which is most days) but when I don't have time or I'm very tired or I need to do something else I tell them to play among themselves.

Telling them to go play has diminishing returns as they get older.

My kids are 18 and 14, and I've done my best to encourage creating things instead of consuming things.. but sometimes they need some down-time, and so do I.

Re: The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence

#29

Post by throwoutway »

trelane wrote: post #6
christophilus wrote: post #5

I’ve tried to encourage my wife to choose video games over Disney+ when she needs to drop the kids in front of something, but she still has a strong resistance to the idea that games are better. To me, it’s pretty obvious. The kids problem solve when gaming, and are obviously engaged. When watching TV, they look like zombies. I think my wife’s biggest hang up with games is that she was always told that they rot your…

Games are designed to be addictive, so restraint is a good option. So is television, though, so limiting both is a good policy. I would guess that games' interactivity and personalization lead to much more opportunities for deeper addiction, though (see e.g loot boxes.)

Are old games designed to be addictive? The original NES and Sega games? Like Mario Bros, etc? I think more recent games added the addictive components
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