[throwaway12309]

The main problem is that we don't know a lot about what will happen to kids that grow in this kind of environment (video games, indoors, 24 hour cartoons, etc). From anecdotal experience and observation, 'indoor' kids seem to be less social, have slightly less verbal vocabulary and more fearful of things and people (both adults and other children) vs. the outdoor kids. My kid is a mix, he likes to stay indoors watching cartoons or playing with the iPad and will do it all day if we let him, but we 'force' him to go outside, jump in the pool, climb some trees, talk with strangers, etc. There are few places where he isn't the most social, most outgoing, most friendly kid around (only ones topping him are the ones that go to the local waldorf school). Now, is this important and should be our goal as parents? I don't know, but having learned about the world after 30 or so years, I think this kind of personality is better suited over introvert/indoor type (maybe I'm wrong though)

[jimmaswell]

Also anecdotally, I had extremely good vocabulary and reading skills according to some kind of testing in early elementary school, and grew up as I described. I guess we'll have to wait for more objective studies.

iPad games are a lot less constructive than normal ones, though, usually.