6 ms·

As always with that sort of conversation, I don't think "screen" is a valid category of interaction. Drawing on photoshop, watching a documentary on whales, pla

As always with that sort of conversation, I don't think "screen" is a valid category of interaction. Drawing on photoshop, watching a documentary on whales, playing bejeweled or using TikTok are very different activities that impact the brain differently. My daughter is still young (2.5 years old), but I know that I'll let her play video games when she wants as long as it's as part of other activities in the day and that the games are ones that develop either her logic, creativity or motor skills. Similarly, watching a quality show like bluey, or watching a full movie end to finish like Totoro in Japanese are watching activities I support, whereas watching some crap cartoon made to sell toys is not.

mordae 3y ago
I feel that the previous generation of MLP with Twilight Sparkle was actually pretty good. Despite being made by a company who wanted to sell toys. Most cringe episodes are the first and last two of the season, but the slice of life in the middle are more often than not golden. But yeah, creating a curated library and not leaving it to chance would probably be a good idea.
- iraldir 3y ago
  Yeah for sure, MLP friendship is magic is there in the list of high quality show. It's unavoidable that toys are sold on popular francises, I just don't want show that are obviously just 20 minutes long advertisements with little substance.
- bmacho 3y ago
  There are not many cartoons made to sell toys that I know of. There is MLP, and .. Star Wars maybe? And MLP is indeed a quite good show, fans ranging from Miley Cyrus to Gabe Newell. Also I don't know how is it considered bad if characters are lovable (MLP has 50+ different, but lovable characters by design), or that if objects around her (clothes, mugs, toys, other merch) make her feel good?
  - bawolff 3y ago
    GI joe? Various barbie cartoons? Transformers? There are a ton of such cartoons, at least in the 80s and 90s.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
  - ben_w 3y ago
    Famously, Transformers. Was Yu-Gi-Oh in this category? I only know that show from the "Abridged" parody dub[0]. Pokémon? [0] https://www.youtube.com/@LittleKuribohChannel https://www.youtube.com/@LittleKuribohChannel
  - red-iron-pine 3y ago
    For a good 20-30 years most if not all kids shows were planned with toys in mind. Some, like Transformers, were essentially toys that were given shows. Even Sesame Street, a PBS (public broadcast) show, still has significant toy tie-ins -- anyone remember the Tickle Me Elmo crazy years ago? My 2 year old has a big-ass plush Cookie Monster.
tgv 3y ago
I think we can safely assume toddlers don't use photoshop, and don't play bejeweled. I also can't quite imagine them watching a nature documentary. Video games won't develop motor skills, unless you find some tough games which require very fast hand-eye coordination at the child's level. Even then it's going to be very limited in comparison to e.g. drawing, throwing and catching a ball or playing a musical instrument. Creativity from video games is something I find even harder to believe. Logic is about the only thing that games manage to convey, but at that age, logic is weird. Toddlers can't reason well, and can't explain themselves. A tablet or a phone is like candy to children. Be careful.
- lupusreal 3y ago
  Of course kids watch nature documentaries. Kids love animals. > Creativity from video games is something I find even harder to believe. Logic is about the only thing that games manage to convey, Kids playing Minecraft probably aren't building computers.
- sigmoid10 3y ago
  It depends on the game, but certain kinds of games have been shown in a number of studies to improve a wide array of abilities - from daily hand-eye coordination tasks [1] over decision making [2] all the way to problem solving [3]. The only question is if you want your kid to play COD or Starcraft, but the benefits are there and if your kid is not interested in learning an instrument, it's way better to have them play these types of games rather than some low mental effort smartphone attention sink. [1] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797616650300 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/095679761665030... [2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050922022451 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187705092... [3] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235367249_More_Than_Just_Fun_and_Games_The_Longitudinal_Relationships_Between_Strategic_Video_Games_Self-Reported_Problem_Solving_Skills_and_Academic_Grades https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235367249_More_Than...
  - tgv 3y ago
    Eye-hand coordination, sure. But you've got a motley set of studies. The first study says "After they played a driving or first-person-shooter video game for 5 or 10 hr, their visuomotor control improved significantly. In contrast, non–action gamers showed no such improvement after they played a nonaction video game" (emphasis mine). Not toddler's games. The 2nd article is not only about FPS, but it is very low quality and relies on self report without a control group. The third article finds a correlation between strategic video games and self-reported problem solving skills and self-reported academic performance, while showing a negative influence from FPS on problem solving. So I'd say: nothing has been proven, certainly not about toddler's games.
D13Fd 3y ago
Video games can definitely have a lot of benefits over television. My son, who is the third of five, has played an online competitive FPS game since he was four years old. It’s had a number of benefits, including motivating him to learn to read at a much earlier age than his siblings. He wanted to learn to read so badly to play his video game that he can now legitimately just sit and read a book that he has never seen before, before he has even reached kindergarten.
- polishdude20 3y ago
  Wow that's impressive. I only learned to read in the first grade.
bequanna 3y ago
Some screen time is ok, but this can be a slippery slope. Screen time for your child might buy you some free time, but is not a replacement for real interaction. In 20, 30, 40 years I guarantee you will give anything to be able to go back and spend more time with your young child. Children are not distractions from important work, they ARE the important work.

mordae 3y ago

I feel that the previous generation of MLP with Twilight Sparkle was actually pretty good. Despite being made by a company who wanted to sell toys. Most cringe episodes are the first and last two of the season, but the slice of life in the middle are more often than not golden. But yeah, creating a curated library and not leaving it to chance would probably be a good idea.

iraldir 3y ago
Yeah for sure, MLP friendship is magic is there in the list of high quality show. It's unavoidable that toys are sold on popular francises, I just don't want show that are obviously just 20 minutes long advertisements with little substance.
bmacho 3y ago
There are not many cartoons made to sell toys that I know of. There is MLP, and .. Star Wars maybe? And MLP is indeed a quite good show, fans ranging from Miley Cyrus to Gabe Newell. Also I don't know how is it considered bad if characters are lovable (MLP has 50+ different, but lovable characters by design), or that if objects around her (clothes, mugs, toys, other merch) make her feel good?
- bawolff 3y ago
  GI joe? Various barbie cartoons? Transformers? There are a ton of such cartoons, at least in the 80s and 90s.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- ben_w 3y ago
  Famously, Transformers. Was Yu-Gi-Oh in this category? I only know that show from the "Abridged" parody dub[0]. Pokémon? [0] https://www.youtube.com/@LittleKuribohChannel https://www.youtube.com/@LittleKuribohChannel
- red-iron-pine 3y ago
  For a good 20-30 years most if not all kids shows were planned with toys in mind. Some, like Transformers, were essentially toys that were given shows. Even Sesame Street, a PBS (public broadcast) show, still has significant toy tie-ins -- anyone remember the Tickle Me Elmo crazy years ago? My 2 year old has a big-ass plush Cookie Monster.

tgv 3y ago

I think we can safely assume toddlers don't use photoshop, and don't play bejeweled. I also can't quite imagine them watching a nature documentary. Video games won't develop motor skills, unless you find some tough games which require very fast hand-eye coordination at the child's level. Even then it's going to be very limited in comparison to e.g. drawing, throwing and catching a ball or playing a musical instrument. Creativity from video games is something I find even harder to believe. Logic is about the only thing that games manage to convey, but at that age, logic is weird. Toddlers can't reason well, and can't explain themselves. A tablet or a phone is like candy to children. Be careful.

lupusreal 3y ago
Of course kids watch nature documentaries. Kids love animals. > Creativity from video games is something I find even harder to believe. Logic is about the only thing that games manage to convey, Kids playing Minecraft probably aren't building computers.
sigmoid10 3y ago
It depends on the game, but certain kinds of games have been shown in a number of studies to improve a wide array of abilities - from daily hand-eye coordination tasks [1] over decision making [2] all the way to problem solving [3]. The only question is if you want your kid to play COD or Starcraft, but the benefits are there and if your kid is not interested in learning an instrument, it's way better to have them play these types of games rather than some low mental effort smartphone attention sink. [1] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797616650300 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/095679761665030... [2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050922022451 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187705092... [3] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235367249_More_Than_Just_Fun_and_Games_The_Longitudinal_Relationships_Between_Strategic_Video_Games_Self-Reported_Problem_Solving_Skills_and_Academic_Grades https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235367249_More_Than...
- tgv 3y ago
  Eye-hand coordination, sure. But you've got a motley set of studies. The first study says "After they played a driving or first-person-shooter video game for 5 or 10 hr, their visuomotor control improved significantly. In contrast, non–action gamers showed no such improvement after they played a nonaction video game" (emphasis mine). Not toddler's games. The 2nd article is not only about FPS, but it is very low quality and relies on self report without a control group. The third article finds a correlation between strategic video games and self-reported problem solving skills and self-reported academic performance, while showing a negative influence from FPS on problem solving. So I'd say: nothing has been proven, certainly not about toddler's games.

D13Fd 3y ago

Video games can definitely have a lot of benefits over television. My son, who is the third of five, has played an online competitive FPS game since he was four years old. It’s had a number of benefits, including motivating him to learn to read at a much earlier age than his siblings. He wanted to learn to read so badly to play his video game that he can now legitimately just sit and read a book that he has never seen before, before he has even reached kindergarten.

polishdude20 3y ago
Wow that's impressive. I only learned to read in the first grade.

bequanna 3y ago

Some screen time is ok, but this can be a slippery slope. Screen time for your child might buy you some free time, but is not a replacement for real interaction. In 20, 30, 40 years I guarantee you will give anything to be able to go back and spend more time with your young child. Children are not distractions from important work, they ARE the important work.