Playsinrain wrote:
Technology is both a blessing and a curse. Sure our kids are more advanced technically than we ever were as kids, but they are also plopped in front of screens a WHOLE lot more than us GenXers ever were. They only screen time i got was an hour a day of Sesame St and Mr Rogers, and Saturday morning cartoons, and i can still remember things that i learned from Sesame Street (12345..6789 10...11 twellllllve..) Not saying that every parent uses screens to babysit and let their toddlers brain be mush, bc you can certainly find educational content that we never had access too. But we have watched what constant noneducational screen time has done to Ollie!!! (and Finn in the future, although i have some hope for him since he was never as zombiefied by the screen and started school earlier than Ollie) anyone else remember that less than a week long stint where they tried to make Ollie only play educational games on the ipad and he freaked the freak out on them?? Right back to Harry Potter and Pixar movies...
I’m the first to admit that my kids probably get too much screen time. But we’ve always been really big on educational content.
And, if I’m honest, I only count it as “screen time” if it’s entertainment/recreational use.
We use flash card apps for letters, numbers, site words, French, math problems, etc. We have a few French apps (like Rosetta Stone for kids). Geography, mad libs for grammar, science stuff, etc.
They can have unlimited access to educational content, because I don’t consider it to be any different than books, board games or tactile activities.
And my oldest two play Roblox together. Which I love. It’s, surprisingly, really helped their independent reading skills, as the only way to communicate on there is text chat.
There’s just too much “junk food” content out there now for kids to self regulate their media consumption. If YouTube kids was all PBS type shows, it wouldn’t be a problem. But it’s toy reviews and fluff. All entertainment with no intellectual value at all.
