231–240 of 259 posts
That being said I do wonder about how I would have turned out had my childhood not been spent hiding under the covers at night with a small light devouring novel after novel and instead been inundated with social media and other distractions.
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Tell that to my son's anime addiction. It's worse than his gaming addiction ever was.
How old is he and what is he watching? (if you don't mind)
Measuring "Intelligence" always seems to result in some questionable science..... That being said I do wonder about how I would have turned out had my childhood not been spent hiding under the covers at night with a small light devouring novel after novel and instead been inundated with social media and other distractions.
Today it's hiding and using the "smart"phone
The fact that they "controlled" for genetics using polygenic scores already is a strong sign of low quality research. Polygenic scores are powerful, but they contain very large amounts of noise compared to the true genetic effects. Controlling for genetics using them is like controlling for income by asking whether the respondents own a Porsche. Also, be aware that Scientific Reports is, if not quite a predatory jour…
*Not really a problem if you correctly believe science should be more than publishing sexy results.
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…
> To me, it’s pretty obvious. The kids problem solve when gaming, and are obviously engaged. When watching TV, they look like zombies. Are you not just seeing what you want to see? Maybe from your wife's perspective, the kids are carefully to observing and learning a wide range of human emotions, social dynamics, new idioms and music from Disney+, whereas in their games they're learning a few tricks that they repeat…
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What about neither TV or computer games and doing things outside like fishing, hiking, scouts, riding bikes etc ?
Are you asking seriously? How about bad weather, or that part of the day when you've already done those things?
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Are you asking seriously? How about bad weather, or that part of the day when you've already done those things?
For some of us 'bad weather' is good weather, and vice versa. Especially so for children- who doesn't like the uplifting feeling brought by rain?
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A counter argument (made by Alan Kay and others) is that the language complexity of what people read is reducing which is leading to a return to an oral culture rather than literate culture (to our collective detriment). My anecdotal experience as a high school English teacher leads me to say this feels true.
Who are the others? I would like to read more about this.
Politics aside it does seem that presidents have been pitching their language lower and lower to appeal to a broader audience. I recall reading about how Obama simplified the vocabulary of his speeches from college level to 10th grade, to 4th grade to 2nd grade: https://smartpolitics.lib.umn.edu/2010/01/29/professor-obama... https://smartpolitics.lib.umn.edu/2011/01/27/keeping-it-simp...
On the flip side though George Washington's first inaugaral address goes to the other extreme where it's impenetrably verbose: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/10/have-pr...
Anecdata at this point but I fear the OP might be right - we are simplifying our language over time.
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 favori…
There was a discussion here a few years back about this interview/documentary with the creator of the original KidPix: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25108875
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Explain that to the cops and Child Protective Services.
I absolutely would. It sickens me how our society seems hellbent on making sure everyone is anxious and fearful of everything, all of the time. If people do not stand up and push back, this sort of government paternalism just keeps intruding. I'd fight any charges against me to the supreme court if necessary, and I'd hope they'd set a precedent.