[kuerbel]

It depends on what they are doing on the device, 100%. When I was a kid I got a GameBoy, one of those old red ones, played tetris or Mario Land for an hour and after that it was boring and I did something else. Got an N64 which was already way more engaging, but even then after an hour or two I was done.

It just got worse the more sophisticated games became. And now we have infinite videos and content, infinite scrolling and such. How is a child supposed to withstand this onslaught? I only managed this by uninstalling YouTube and all apps with shorts.

[originalvichy]

This sort of analysis can help find a healthy level of gaming or computer use. I spent hours reading Microsoft’s offline encyclopedia on the family PC, and playing games like Age of Empires which taught me history on the side.

Take control of what your kids play, and you can help them find more beneficial uses of electronics which is not an endless loop of bite sized low quality entertainment! :)

[thatguy0900]

I think at the minumim you should be avoiding any games studios that hire behavioral psychologists and optimize for addiction loops. So most every triple A game is immediately out

[kouteiheika]

> It just got worse the more sophisticated games became.

I feel like it got worse not because games became more sophisticated, but because they got dumber and require less and less brainpower.

I spent my childhood playing ridiculous amount of video games, probably same amount or more as kids nowadays do. I had literally hundreds of Playstation games back in the day. And I turned out fine. But the difference was that I was playing a ton of games that required you to put some thought into them, and weren't easy, and often were story-heavy (e.g. JRPGs in particular; being from a non English-speaking country that's how I actually learned English!).

[j4102_]

Played Pokemon back in my day and even now I keep seeing how "dumbed" down it gets in some ways. The game has become more and more hand-held. Don't know if it's a trend across the entire industry though or if it's just me seeing it as an adult. I can't really say

[_345]

Just you as an adult. It's always been that infantile

[superxpro12]

There's some real value in playing older video games precisely because they were developed before immoral engineers got involved and focused on creating engagement solely to be engaging. Prior to this, games were good because of story or challenge, and the engagement naturally followed.

Today, you can see the engagement engineering everywhere. ESPECIALLY IN MOBILE... omg the FOMO, flash colors, 3 second screen transitions, gambling mechanics. It's an addicts nightmare.

[S_Bear]

I've been replaying some of the games of my youth, and they are either super easy or don't take very much time (I remember the original Final Fantasy being this vast epic tale; it took me 9-ish hours to beat as an adult. My Punch-Out reflexes didn't die, and I made it to re-skinned Mike Tyson on my first go.) A third of a game of Civ V takes longer than any of the NES and Genesis games I played as a kid.

[pipes]

Yep both the snes and N64 definitely negatively affected my attainment in school. It's an uncomfortable truth that in hindsight games did negatively affect me.

Now I waste time reading about how those old games were made!

[hylaride]

With real-time telemetry and feedback, companies now know what keeps people "engaged" and "hooked". It's god-awful for brains that are still developing.

[bawolff]

I think the internet is the real problem. Infinite choices, and sites designed specificly to keep you hooked. I feel like addictivity falls a lot when you are stuck with just offline things.

[cobertos]

I think so too. The restrictions of offline software means it has less ability to nag you or pull you in a specific direction. The software you have at any given time is what you've got.

Same sort of theme I've being going for in my personal intranet. It's calmer offline.

[superxpro12]

the internet isnt the problem, its the focus on artificial engagement. It's found everywhere now, and its toxic.