[PartiallyTyped]

I come from South Eastern Europe and lived quite a bit with my grandparents, my parents are split though. The experience wasn't really good. Older people tend to have a very fixed and opinionated idea of what is good or 'correct' that does not match the reality. I heard for the best part of my adolescence and childhood that 'sitting in-front of a computer will not put food on your plate'. Guess who studied CompSci?

So, while this could work for the average household, it isn't a gospel and needs to be evaluated on a case by case basis.

[macspoofing]

>I heard for the best part of my adolescence and childhood that 'sitting in-front of a computer will not put food on your plate'.

To be fair to your grandparents, large amount of screen time is not good for children and teenagers. And let's face it, if you were like a typical teenager, your screen time was largely devoted to gaming or other non-academic endeavors. I suspect when you have children of your own, you'll start sounding like your grandparents. I found that after your 20s you start appreciating the advice and experience of older people and the wisdom behind it.

[PartiallyTyped]

I agree with your comment and that a typical teenager will probably devote most of their time in non academic or in gaming.

While I did game a bit during childhood and early adolescence, a large portion of it was spent socialising, I really did not socialise with peers during those years and that is a direct consequence of the overbearing and 'strictness' of the grandparents, so I socialised in the only way they couldn't control, through video games and the internet. Thank god World of Warcraft was a thing, it was my only social interaction that was deliberate.^1

My late adolescence, i.e. 15-18 was spent reading on light gaming, reading and watching documentaries. I also received a lot of expose on the hacker(not cracker) culture and that has shaped me a lot as a person, or perhaps it was inevitable since I was and still am the same curious child that I was back then.

PS. gaming has also helped me in many regards that are not perceptible to an outside observer, such as self discipline and setting goals and theory crafting. All of which have stayed with me and have probably made me a better scientist.

^1 I understand the difference between 'real' social interaction and 'virtual' interaction but I will take it over nothing.

[csomar]

I think he meant he was working/studying CompSci and his grand-parents didn't understand what he was doing.

[macspoofing]

That's not quite what he said. He wrote: "I heard for the best part of my adolescence and childhood that 'sitting in-front of a computer will not put food on your plate'."

I interpret that to mean he was talking about his childhood.

[PartiallyTyped]

He is partially correct, my childhood and early adolescence was spent on video games, my later adolescence was spent on CompSci and reading. I explain more in the sibling comment.

[monkeydreams]

To be fair, it would be good for the world if our elders had a little less screentime.