[elros]

On a certain level, it’s also a question of different parenting philosophy.

> Stuff like online communications will come at a later age. Absolutely no reason to start explaining that to a 5 year old.

I agree, but I also see absolutely no reason why 5 years old children would have access to a gaming device. Pretty much any other activity I can imagine is better for them.

[krupan]

We got an Atari computer when I was 5. I was allowed to play Pac-Man and Donkey Kong for as long as I wanted. Turns out, those games were not designed by the same people who make slot machines, and they got frustrating pretty quickly and I chose to go do other things. This scenario not even being an option today is what most people are complaining about here.

[BeetleB]

> I agree, but I also see absolutely no reason why 5 years old children would have access to a gaming device. Pretty much any other activity I can imagine is better for them.

I suggest expanding your imagination skills. There are definitely worse activities, like watching TV.

And there's physical limit to how much physical activity one can be doing. There's definitely a point of diminishing returns there.

And the skills one can develop with carefully curated games are hard to reproduce in any entertaining manner.

I mean, sure, I could have him do math but it's a lot more boring.

Playing games is definitely an "and", not an "exclusive or" proposition.

I was given access to computer games at that age and I'm definitely appreciative for it. I only realized the value when I was well into my 30s.

[soperj]

> And there's physical limit to how much physical activity one can be doing

Do you hang out with many 5 year olds? They're made of energy.

> I could have him do math but it's a lot more boring

I did Math all the time with my 5 year old and he loved it, but then I also love math, and it's easy to make fun.

[aidenn0]

> I did Math all the time with my 5 year old and he loved it, but then I also love math, and it's easy to make fun.

I have 4 kids; two of them also found math fun at age 5, the other two did not. I do not believe my ability to make math fun differed significantly between the attempts.

[BeetleB]

Fair points, but understand that this is a multidimensional issue, with each dimension being a continuum.

I know plenty of people using the exact same arguments to argue that kids should not waste time with Lego. There are better physical activities.

[soperj]

people are definitely crazy.

[BeetleB]

It's no crazier than saying the same things for video games. :-)

[oblio]

The could play physical games such as board games or card games or...

Computer games aren't really needed for anything special at 5 years old.

Digital skills can be developed much later and they can be developed really fast, plus if the parents are very computer literate, their kids will be waaay ahead of the average kid in the world, so this isn't a real concern.