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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

#391

Post by boringg »

brabel wrote: post #203
tantalor wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My biggest gripe is how terribly slow it is to navigate UI on a TV. The latency between user input and the UI responding can be upwards of 10-20 seconds. Just incredibly user hostile.

I had a 75-inch TV I inherited, it was on the higher end and the TV UI was supper snappy. Then, I broke it accidentally and got only 1/4 of the money from insurance. Because I barely watch TV, I thought I would just buy a TV of the same size, but on the lower end... both TVs were Samsung anyway. What a huge difference. The image quality is a little worse, barely noticeable after you get used to it. But the UI is agon…

Wait people on hackernews actually use the embedded software on "Smart" TVs? That stuff is terrible not to mention a privacy nightmare.

I thought that smart tv native usage was for gen. pop. only. Its been an ongoing conversation on this site for years at this point.

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

#392

Post by nullify88 »

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.

I'm very impressed by the range of shows available on DR (Danish broadcasting). Shows about emotion, social etiquette, animals, machines and other intrigue. We do limit time, use it to reward good behaviour, and use it to recuperate after a day at nursery. Each night the kids get a book, and we usually play music as we prepare and eat dinner.

I believe a balance of all mediums is healthy. I look forward to introducing video games to them.

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

#393

Post by johnhamlin »

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…

My twin 2yo boys have a Tonie box and absolutely love it. I hear such good things about the Yoto, I plan to get them one once they’re old enough not to rip the cards to shreds

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

#394

Post by ckozlowski »

sgt wrote: post #345
01100011 wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some commenters either: 1. Do not have children. 2. Have a strong support network. 3. Have their partner or professional handle most aspects of child raising and have a warped understanding of dealing with a precocious and active toddler. It's great that some folks have kids that like books and keep themselves busy. It's not so great that their parents think that is the reality most parents enjoy.

Sometimes you literally have to give them something in order for you to get something done. We keep screen time to max 30 minutes a day though for our 5 year old.

5yo parent here. Agreed. And sometimes they just need to chill.

I agree with the overall sentiment. Too much screen time is bad. Kids need to get out and play, indoors or out. In our house, it's a lot of biking and playing with friends outside, Legos, Brio, Magnatiles, matchbox cars, or just crafts.

But sometimes they're frazzled, out of sorts, and would benefit from just being able to sit and chill.

So we'll put on something for him that we're comfortable with. Tumble Leaf, Blaze & The Monster Machines, Trash Truck, or the occasional Ghibli movie.

We do not give him a tablet or other portable device. He sits and watches on the couch, we set a expectation, and stick to that.

I think controlling the device is important. Keeping the screen as something we control and not something he carries around seems to allow us better control and helps him understand the limits in play. 90% of the time, we have no fuss.

And it's not bad. In moderation, TV can be just fine. Often it genuinely helps him soothe and relax (Especially if he's been really active and engaged all day), and as you said, helps us get something done. Two episodes of one of his favorite shows is great to help him unwind while we're making dinner.

But we keep time/episode limits as well, and that seems to keep things in balance along with the aforementioned things.

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

#395

Post by ckozlowski »

wffurr wrote: post #109
rspoerri wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

>> started crying when we hid it after only a very short time I'd cry too if you showed me a bright colorful shiny fun new thing and then took it away after only two minutes. Part of what you're seeing is the novelty. There does seem to be something about screens, but it's possible to have healthy screen habits as a young child. My 3 year old enjoyed a 25-minute episode of Wild Kratts on PBS Kids on our TV while we f…

I agree, and the "not the first time" I think is key there. Setting expectations I think is crucial. For ours (5yo), we're clear about what he can watch and for how long. We control the device. "Two episodes before dinner" or so. Over time, he learns how this works. And we're not afraid to tell him that now isn't a good time for the TV.

It's not to say we never have any complaints over this, but when we do, it's rare and usually because something else is amiss (hungry, frazzled, tired).

But most instances it's like last night, where we were clear that we had time for two episodes of Tumble Leaf before dinner. At the end of the second one he announced "last one!" and got up off the couch as we picked up the remote.

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

#396

Post by thfuran »

lostlogin wrote: post #357
naravara wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The AppleTV is best in class sure but by the standards of older, pre-internet technology the lag is noticeable. The UI itself is smooth, but any time it makes a network call (which it does for damn near everything) it can take some amount of time. And once you introduce receivers and HDMI-ARC and auto switching and frame-rate differences between applications the whole thing just fucking sucks. It’s constantly turning…

> sound cutting out and back on. Absolutely kills me. No one else in the house notices when sound is from the shitbox tv speakers rather than the soundbar. It’s a high end Sony, and it’s sound quality is shameful. Can we sacrifice a few cm of thinness and have some sound?

I'd rather have a big monitor with no network connectivity or speakers.

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

#397

Post by jbb67 »

fourneau wrote: post #232
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…

I -have- built something like this for the TV using NFC cards, which was a great first-electronics-project for myself. That said, the most frustrating part is not the actual hardware itself but getting whatever streamer you're using to play the content you want. For example, this project required the author to WireShark and reverse engineer how Chromecast managed things. If you do go down this route, I found that Ple…

I wanted to create something for my daughter that could just play a particular one of a curated set of programs on demand, but there are so many apps for different services, it;s so hard to know how to begin to control them all.

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

#398

Post by xwkd »

embedding-shape wrote: post #150
eigencoder wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't read that connotation into it, but maybe in your social circles people have a problem with homeschooling?

> maybe in your social circles people have a problem with homeschooling In general I think it's a very American thing, and considering the education problem the US suffers from, probably explains a part of that. Most other countries have very limited amount of homeschooling even allowed, because of all the drawbacks with it.

This is an understandable perception, but it reveals your lack of context. By and large, children in the US are educated in the public school system. Only 6% of children in the US are homeschooled. Now, there has been a relatively recent push into home schooling as a reaction to the education problems that you mentioned, but it is not the cause. I'd encourage you to spend some time researching home schooling outcomes in the US, if you're interested. (Keep in mind that the sample is mainly representative of engaged and proactive parents.)

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

#400

Post by Atomic_Torrfisk »

taegee wrote: post #365
taegee wrote: post #202

Nice idea but at that age any screen content is fundamentally bad for your children.

P. S. Some people do not seem to get it: It is the medium itself that is unsuitable for children in general and completely independent of the content.

I disagree. I limit the screen time of my kids to 20 min per day. I only allow them also to view certain content that is not too stimulating, just educational stuff. The kids do want to talk about the stuff they see and play out what they see afterwards. I see it as positive. Unlimited youtube kids, with weird slop content, absolutely harmful.
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