Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by hiAndrewQuinn 693 days ago
Yeah, that's intuitively not a fate I would want to wish on my own kids. I'm just old enough to have spent the first ~14 years of my life without any personal computing devices, and I remember the boredom being agonizing.

Now, the kind of device I would provide is another story. Unfettered access to the Internet at large, including social media, is probably not well advised - access to Wikipedia probably is. Questions of degree.
4 comments
klabb3 693 days ago
Right. But if we interpret parent charitably they probably agree with you. The device itself isn’t evil, and the internet isn’t either. However, 7 second videos tailor made to hijack our reward systems could very well cause developmental issues simply by taking attention from one place and moving it elsewhere.

There are adults that can’t handle slot machines. Many more seem to be unable to handle social media. I’m very seriously recommending friends and family to limit it. With children it’s more hands-on, so as a parent it wouldn’t just be recommendations.

link
lz400 693 days ago
Boredom can be filled with... books! I think that going for a "personal computing device" first is in general a bad idea and I'm really glad for the first ~14 years of my life I also didn't have any because I'm not sure I would have had the self control to avoid just getting suckered in, and I feel lucky I developed a reading habit instead.
link
hiAndrewQuinn 692 days ago
Nah. I had plenty of books, and I was a pretty heavy reader as a kid, but I still had way more boredom than I was happy with. As soon as I got access to Wikipedia, though, the number of words I read per day skyrocketed.
link
coldtea 693 days ago
>I'm just old enough to have spent the first ~14 years of my life without any personal computing devices, and I remember the boredom being agonizing.

If you lived in a farm 200 miles from any kid in rural Nebraska maybe. And even there there would be tons of adventures to have on one's own.

link
CleaveIt2Beaver 692 days ago
Trying to argue around the circumstances of a one-line anecdote is peak HN. Your experience of the world doesn't invalidate theirs, and vice versa.
link
theGnuMe 693 days ago
Kids get bored of tech and TV despite unlimited access.
link