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Calpa t1_jcsrtxu wrote

I'm less concerned about social skills being affected by the screentime of my children, and more their attention span and ability to amuse themselves with a book or puzzle.

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feverlast t1_jctanac wrote

We are seeing impacts to both, but you are right: especially to attention and self-entertainment skills. I work in elementary, but colleagues say it’s especially bleak in the secondary grades with students that require constant stimulation and who struggle to stay attentive and engaged long enough to manage complex tasks. I have also heard that one of the side-effects of this constant need for stimulation and stimulation-to-cope is affecting kids ability to self-regulate. We ARE seeing a dramatic increase in violent/anti-social behavior in elementary schools.

We really need to get our arms around this problem because iPad parenting isn’t going away, nor should the use of technology in our lives be shunned. The future is going to be won through the development and application of new and beneficial technologies. Parents should be taught the risks and pitfalls so that we can shift the ways we raise children in our culture.

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FlyingCockAndBalls t1_jcw0ljb wrote

unfortunately there's way too many people that really only had kids cause it was expected of em and that's why they "parent" with iPads, they don't care. Just like how school is becoming less of a place for learning and more of a babysitter for the parent. Even if they know the risks they won't change cause they don't give a shit about their kids in the first place.

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skunkcitycannabis2 t1_jctv7id wrote

This is the problem I have with my kid who is 7. When he has to stop playing games or watching shows he tells me everything is boring and doesn't know what to do. He recently got in trouble at school and we took away screen time for a bit. Now he entertains himself and is playing with toys that have collected dust. We are working on a plan to reintroduce game/screen time but want to balance it with other play time.

I notice his attitude is generally worse if we had a day with a lot of screen time and much better with no screen time. We don't want to completely remove video games from him but he doesn't make it easy. Best of luck with figuring it out with your kids.

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DevAway22314 t1_jct4dcg wrote

This headline popped up a lot 30-40 years ago with the rise of the TV. Weird to see it come full circle

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Beautiful-Ad-3306 t1_jctc0ki wrote

I always tell people “my parents used to put us in front of a tv as a babysitter, the iPad is the same thing” I think they both can do damage if overused, like anything else

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Game-of-pwns t1_jcy4hro wrote

"the iPad is the same thing"

I don't think we know that yet. TV is in the middle of the room, so it's at least somewhat social activity. Staring at a screen inches from your face cuts you off from the world and can cause back and eye problems that TV doesn't. TVs also don't bombard you with notifications and dopamine hits the same way personal electronic devices do, either.

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Beautiful-Ad-3306 t1_jcy5xal wrote

Sitting on a couch watching tv and not being psychically moving is also terrible for your back, posture, etc. also, most kids watch the tv right in front of the tv. We absolutely did NOT use the tv as a social/interactive thing at all. It was put on so my mother could cook dinner, get other things done, etc. all screens are bad for children, their eyes, their bodies, their health, etc. It really just irritates me to hear those people who are “holier than thou” because they chose for their child to sit in front of a tv instead of an iPad. They’re both pretty bad. This is coming from a parent as well. My child goes outside and gets 1-2 hours a day. 🤷🏻‍♀️ say what you want, but he’s actually really good with technology now..

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OG_Tater t1_jcwmwhk wrote

I don’t think all screen time is created equal. My kids only get to watch TV (limited) and we don’t have IPads and they’re not online. The internet imo is set up to be rewarding and addictive to keep them engaged.

They get bored of TV after a half hour or so. Watching my friends’ kids I don’t think they’d get bored of the stimulation of tablets.

The goal here is to get them bored so they go start tinkering with something and come up with some creation.

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