Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by imp0cat 19 days ago
Yeah, it's like Diamond age, except it also destroys your kid's vision.

But then again, that's a potential upsell just waiting to happen - do you want eyeglasses with that? Your kid is gonna need them.

2 comments

This is totally false. https://www.aao.org/eye-health/tips-prevention/screen-use-ki...

Unless you're also advocating that kids shouldn't read books?

> A 2019 study published in Ophthalmology—the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology—offers more evidence that at least part of the worldwide increase in nearsightedness has to do with near work activities. It’s not just screens affecting eye development, it’s also traditional books and the amount of time spent indoors overall. The study also found that spending time outdoors—especially in early childhood—can slow the progression of nearsightedness.

And by "false" you mean "true"? Because that's exactly what the study says. Their recommendation is that kids should spend more time outside, not stare at screens or books.

Did you not read my entire comment? I am extremely skeptical that you’d be here leaving this comment about parents “destroying” their kids vision if we were talking about kids and reading paper books. You’re pushing a narrative that screens in particular destroy vision, and it’s bogus. And I haven’t even looked that study up, but I’m guessing the effect size is pretty damn small, so I’m guessing you’re also being hysterical and over-reactive too. Because this isn’t about vision, it’s a moral panic about screens, and now AI. Yawn.
It was you who posted links to the study.

I only pointed out that the study concludes that:

> The kids who spent more time indoors (reading or on their devices) were more likely to get myopia or severe myopia."

You can look up what myopia means. Hint: It has nothing to do with AI, this is about vision.

Exactly, the study has nothing to do with AI, and yet you’re here pushing a narrative that AI / screens destroy vision in some unique way. You wouldn’t comment about books.

But this thread couldn’t be less interesting, so I’m out.

Fine. Just for the record, I never said that AI causes nearsightedness.

It's the increase in screen use.

In ca 1995 fiction, the upsell was human ractors occasionally coming in, temporarily substituting AI on heiress class instances. Sounds pretty much spot on for one of those coveted post AI jobs...
Well, that was the catch in the book - you accidentally end up with a plebeian girl getting a smart book meant to educate aristocratic children which includes a connection to a human tutor. The girl grows up into a smart independent person & sets on a quest to reconnect with the tutor, which effectively became her mother.

Then there is a big bunch of local children that might have not otherwise survived an ongoing civil war & famine - instead they are saved and educated by a mass produced purely AI driven version of the same smart book. End result - very effective and quite ruthless child army the main character ends up leading.