Thanks for this, Naomi. We’ve always had more or less free screen time, but now that the children are older (12 and 13.5yo), things are trickier.
I’m talking about social media, mostly, for preteens and teens.
It’s all great and well when they are little and their screen time use is on games, reading, drawing and nice things, but then it comes Tik Tok, WhatsApp where bullies can come on a group call even if you’ve blocked them, and not to mention the addiction on wanting to buy more “robux” to have the latest digital outfit to be “cool”.
I mean, you wouldn’t let your child roam the streets in the middle of the night, hanging out with shady and dangerous people, how can we possibly think it’s safe for them to roam in the WWW unsupervised and at all hours? Especially if a child has adhd and people-pleasing and addiction to unhealthy things is high.
I am late to the party on this one but was left with one big question after reading both your book and this article: how do you account for the "choice" aspect when screens, specifically video games but also some types of children's TV programming, is DESIGNED by the manufacturer to be addictive? You don't have a problem calling out the way in which pharmaceutical companies in the US are allowed to market directly to consumers, convincing individuals they need something to cure a "problem" they don't have (I agree, this is reprehensible), but there is a similar element at play with video gaming and other types of electronic entertainment. We know that video games are addictive in the same way substances are addictive (Mohammad S, Jan RA, Alsaedi SL. Symptoms, Mechanisms, and Treatments of Video Game Addiction. Cureus. 2023 Mar 31;15(3):e36957. doi: 10.7759/cureus.36957. PMID: 37009362; PMCID: PMC10065366.). An addicted brain is not a free brain.
I would love to hear more of your thoughts on this subject as I think access to screen time and its relationship to personal freedom is more complicated than what is presented here or in 'Changing Our Minds'.
I wish I knew how to engage myself with my kids’ games. I don’t understand the stuff. I have vision issues and can’t articulate questions well. (I also can’t answer questions most of the time. My brain struggles with it so much.)
I am glad, though, that even if I can’t figure out how to act interested in my sons’ games, we do bond over cooking, food, animals, travel, tv shows and books.
I appreciate your article here about screen time! Thank you !!
I was denied all screen time growing up and it has isolated me from my peers. My partner constantly asks me if I watched a show or movie and I constantly say “no.” People can’t grasp that I didn’t see it.
I saw 21 Jump Street (the original with Johnny Depp) in about year 2001. And my high school experience in the late 80s finally made sense. I still haven’t seen Pretty in Pink, 16 Candles, Goonies, that movie where everyone throws toast in the theater?, … so many movies my peers all saw and I have seen none of them.
Sorry to blather on and on. It’s nice to have a place to talk about screen time with someone else.
I was determined that my kids should not be so isolated. I want them to be able to relate to their peers. I think I have succeeded. They are grown up now and seem to be well adjusted. I am grateful. ❤️
It is a parallel virtual world that chikdren want to escape to, and going into it can create some connection, but ultimately its a predatory world, know. As the wild west in many instances. There are no legal, ethical, moral boundaries. Its purely instant gratification.
I could be wrong, but I feel you haven’t raised a child. I don’t think you fully understand what damage its doing in the real world to our cognition. There are too many victims.
Thanks for this, Naomi. We’ve always had more or less free screen time, but now that the children are older (12 and 13.5yo), things are trickier.
I’m talking about social media, mostly, for preteens and teens.
It’s all great and well when they are little and their screen time use is on games, reading, drawing and nice things, but then it comes Tik Tok, WhatsApp where bullies can come on a group call even if you’ve blocked them, and not to mention the addiction on wanting to buy more “robux” to have the latest digital outfit to be “cool”.
I mean, you wouldn’t let your child roam the streets in the middle of the night, hanging out with shady and dangerous people, how can we possibly think it’s safe for them to roam in the WWW unsupervised and at all hours? Especially if a child has adhd and people-pleasing and addiction to unhealthy things is high.
I’d love to hear your thoughts 🙏🏻
Hi Naomi,
I am late to the party on this one but was left with one big question after reading both your book and this article: how do you account for the "choice" aspect when screens, specifically video games but also some types of children's TV programming, is DESIGNED by the manufacturer to be addictive? You don't have a problem calling out the way in which pharmaceutical companies in the US are allowed to market directly to consumers, convincing individuals they need something to cure a "problem" they don't have (I agree, this is reprehensible), but there is a similar element at play with video gaming and other types of electronic entertainment. We know that video games are addictive in the same way substances are addictive (Mohammad S, Jan RA, Alsaedi SL. Symptoms, Mechanisms, and Treatments of Video Game Addiction. Cureus. 2023 Mar 31;15(3):e36957. doi: 10.7759/cureus.36957. PMID: 37009362; PMCID: PMC10065366.). An addicted brain is not a free brain.
I would love to hear more of your thoughts on this subject as I think access to screen time and its relationship to personal freedom is more complicated than what is presented here or in 'Changing Our Minds'.
I wish I knew how to engage myself with my kids’ games. I don’t understand the stuff. I have vision issues and can’t articulate questions well. (I also can’t answer questions most of the time. My brain struggles with it so much.)
I am glad, though, that even if I can’t figure out how to act interested in my sons’ games, we do bond over cooking, food, animals, travel, tv shows and books.
I appreciate your article here about screen time! Thank you !!
I was denied all screen time growing up and it has isolated me from my peers. My partner constantly asks me if I watched a show or movie and I constantly say “no.” People can’t grasp that I didn’t see it.
I saw 21 Jump Street (the original with Johnny Depp) in about year 2001. And my high school experience in the late 80s finally made sense. I still haven’t seen Pretty in Pink, 16 Candles, Goonies, that movie where everyone throws toast in the theater?, … so many movies my peers all saw and I have seen none of them.
Sorry to blather on and on. It’s nice to have a place to talk about screen time with someone else.
I was determined that my kids should not be so isolated. I want them to be able to relate to their peers. I think I have succeeded. They are grown up now and seem to be well adjusted. I am grateful. ❤️
It is a parallel virtual world that chikdren want to escape to, and going into it can create some connection, but ultimately its a predatory world, know. As the wild west in many instances. There are no legal, ethical, moral boundaries. Its purely instant gratification.
I could be wrong, but I feel you haven’t raised a child. I don’t think you fully understand what damage its doing in the real world to our cognition. There are too many victims.