[skrebbel]

I’m a geek. My kids are geeks. To not provide them access to a computer because there’s bad addictive things on computers is like not teaching kids to read because there’s harmful books.

In reality, things are never so black and white. When I tell my kids “no youtube, no gaming, but you’re allowed to use Scratch” there’s a risk they’re just browse scratch’s endless catalog of games made by others, plenty of which are impressively fun. So then I gotta say no to that too. But then my youngest wants to use Scratch with a youtube tutorial. That’s fine right? Well yes it is but it also means there’s the addictive recommendation cycle right there on the screen too. He’s not allowed to click on them but that’s hard to resist etc etc. It’s all solvable but it’s all very nuanced and makers of apps and platforms (including MIT) actively work against you at every step.

My theory is that every person in this thread who thinks this is simple doesn’t have children. It’s simple in the abstract and super messy in reality.

[martindbp]

> My theory is that every person in this thread who thinks this is simple doesn’t have children.

As always. "Why don't you just..."

Minecraft has been great for my 6 year old, learning fluent English etc, but I have to be very active in enforcing rules, especially around Minecraft YouTubers (only British, they tend to build advanced machinery and explain well).

But anything can turn into an addiction. Recently he wanted to do Duolingo to learn intermediate English, but now I get the sense he does it to get "allowed" screen time and doesn't actually learn much.

It's very nuanced. I want to provide screen time because we're nerds and you need to spend time with technology to learn about it, but there are way more distractions than when I was a kid, and our home computer didn't even have internet.

[strken]

I don't have children. That being said, my impression from looking after my brother's kid is that a lot of things are simple and also difficult. "Sit down with your kids when they use the computer like you're pair programming" is not complicated, but it's a heavy burden that most parents can't meet. Uncle strken can't do that over three days, let alone 15 or so years.

[taneq]

Cue the Penny Arcade strip about screen time.

[svantana]

I mean, it's a bit like saying: "why is cocaine illegal but not glue sniffing? It's even worse for your health". Yes, but it's not as much fun, so in practice not a big problem. If a kid refused to go outside due to their pen-and-paper addiction, then that would need to be limited as well.