What are your rules about video games?

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by lhpartridge

Go back and read my original point. It was that our daughter said that she would have all the same rules as a parent that she had as a child. She was 16 when she told us that.

God knows that we made many mistakes when rearing them. Some of those mistakes will have lifetime consequences, but our screen policy was not one of them, according to these two young adults who are just beginning their professional lives.

I was just floored to realize that the default mode for many families seems to be that it's okay to spend nearly all unstructured time on screen activities. As a teacher, I know that children get better at what they do, and they usually don't get better at the activities they don't practice. This realization helps me understand the problems that my students have in focusing on academic tasks where there is no immediate gratification.

Considering the responses so far to this thread, I thought that offering a completely different perspective would be insightful. It seems that I have touched a nerve. Mea culpa.

You touched a nerve with me, yes.

You see I am a well rounded, well read person who can hold intelligent conversations. I have strong critical thinking skills and a profound interest in learning.

As a child, I watched television. It was not a detriment to me. I know of literally, hundreds of other people for which screen time wielded no ill effects over them.

As an older child, and later teen, I wrote poetry. I devoured hundreds of books. I volunteered at the local hospital and the library. However, I still watched a lot of TV.

It seems to me that you seem to think that your way is the only way. While it's admirable that you were able to keep a strong stance against TV and screen time, I do not think it's the only right way to do things. As a matter of fact, I am now in school for graphic design - a career which is almost 100% screen time based. Ironically, I am hoping to design books and book covers after I graduate.

Even your dreaded screen time provides positives for our society.

[haggardhouseelf]

lhpartridge - how did we get from discussing how families limit gametime (or "screentime", rather) to you assuming we all allow our kids to spend all their free time staring at screens?

Also - I don't consider myself a "gamer" (though I workout with the Wii), but I've played video games (XBOX and PS3) with my husband and kids enough to know that the whole "instant gratification" claim with regards to playing video games is often bogus. People who cite that claim are merly regurgitating what they've heard and read elsewhere, rather than experiencing games for themselves. Try playing Halo Reach or Assassin's Creed and tell me about instant gratification? Right...

Now texting and IM and social networking (Facebook, anyone?)... there's instant gratification for you. And I love it! Just not while I'm driving, please...

[lhpartridge]

Originally Posted by haggardhouseelf

lhpartridge - how did we get from discussing how families limit gametime (or "screentime", rather) to you assuming we all allow our kids to spend all their free time staring at screens?

Also - I don't consider myself a "gamer" (though I workout with the Wii), but I've played video games (XBOX and PS3) with my husband and kids enough to know that the whole "instant gratification" claim with regards to playing video games is often bogus. People who cite that claim are merly regurgitating what they've heard and read elsewhere, rather than experiencing games for themselves. Try playing Halo Reach or Assassin's Creed and tell me about instant gratification? Right...

Now texting and IM and social networking (Facebook, anyone?)... there's instant gratification for you. And I love it! Just not while I'm driving, please...

Actually, this was what I said:

I was just floored to realize that the default mode for many families seems to be that it's okay to spend nearly all unstructured time on screen activities.

That was beginning around post #15. I never said, nor did I mean to imply, that you "all allow [y]our kids to spend all their free time staring at screens." That was your interpretation of my post.

As I said earlier, the OP was seeking input on different parents' practices regarding games. It was my intent to provide a point of view that differed from the others that I read. As far as making claims about the effects of playing games on attention span, I draw not only from research, but from my experience as a high school teacher. I did not mean to offend.

[haggardhouseelf]

Originally Posted by lhpartridge

Actually, this was what I said:

That was beginning around post #15. I never said, nor did I mean to imply, that you "all allow [y]our kids to spend all their free time staring at screens." That was your interpretation of my post.

As I said earlier, the OP was seeking input on different parents' practices regarding games. It was my intent to provide a point of view that differed from the others that I read. As far as making claims about the effects of playing games on attention span, I draw not only from research, but from my experience as a high school teacher. I did not mean to offend.

No offense taken. I just don't understand how you can assume so much about families you don't know, and about games you haven't played. Do you spend time in your students homes? Do you play video games with your students at school?

It's just that there's so much rhetoric out there that keeps getting blown around about the evils of TV and video games, and it's funny to me because so often when another parent comes to me with this sort of opinion and I ask if they have ever played video games themselves they say that no, they haven't. I'm personally an advocate of getting the kids outside and reading more books and I do believe in limiting kids time spent in front of screens. But I also think a lot of people are making judgements about things they haven't a clue about or very little if any personal experience with, and I think that's sketchy behavior.

A different point of view is a great and essential thing, and I congratulate you for raising such great kids, but it doesn't mean that those who do things differently from you won't also raise great kids.