Steve Jobs wouldn't let his kids use an ipad, many other top tech CEOs agree, what say you LetsRun parents?

Ummm, kids who watch TV or play computer games all day long, fail to develop social skills. What's wrong with requiring your kids to play with "real" friends, or go to to park and run through the leaves and grass?

I put pretty similar limits for my kids. Zero tech toys before age ten. Then pretty strict limits (half hour a day, etc.). It is not the porn, violence or predators that I am particularly worried about. It is the brain damage.

Old Folks wrote:

Ummm, kids who watch TV or play computer games all day long, fail to develop social skills. What's wrong with requiring your kids to play with "real" friends, or go to to park and run through the leaves and grass?

I didn't say there is anything wrong with it. I think it's great.

I'm a big fan of this book:

I personally am thinking of going back to a flip phone.

We have a 13 year-old. No tv, ipad, phone use in the bedroom. His private school uses ipads for everything - in the classroom, homework, etc. He is already on it most of the day.

We limit technology on weekends too. He needs to be outside playing basketball, biking, whatever. Technology is great but balance is important.

So Jobs was a hypocrite?

Like Madonna not letting her kid watch TV?

There's a moral there somewhere.

rojo wrote:

I'm a big fan of this book:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Shallows-Internet-Doing-Brains/dp/0393339750

I personally am thinking of going back to a flip phone.

Thanks for the link. I downloaded it on my tablet. Found a throwback rotary dial telephone to buy the the cord wasn't long enough to carry it with me.

Our four-year-old gets on the iPad first thing in the morning, around 7am. But he usually loses interest in it in less than an hour. At the hour mark we take it from him anyway. He doesn't get to use it again the rest of the day. We limit tv and don't allow it at all after dinner. When the kids are older, no tv or computers in the bedroom. There's no need. My wife and I read a ton and love reading to the kids, so the kids now love books, too.

No cell phones at the table, ever, during meals. No electronic devices of any kind in the bedroom ever.

I doubt this will make any difference, but the studies are remarkable, especially concerning screen time and poorly-developed social skills.

No electronics, including TV and movies, during school week from M-F afternoon. Electronics are allowed for brief periods (no longer than 30 mins total/day) on weekends. Movies are okay on weekends.

When I was a kid, computers were still kinda new. So that danger wasn't really there. They were integrated well into public school. Television of course was around and all of us kids watched tons of television and movies. We played video games too and sometimes it was a bit excessive. Nonetheless, that didn't stop us from getting out of the dang house and playing with neighborhood kids and school neighborhood kids. There was still a "world" out there. Later in middle school and high school, I got heavy into computers.

Having lived through the times and having peers and relatives successively younger than me, I can see how there's a different culture and use of technology--mobile devices, smartphones, internet, etc. I say, for young children, if these tech guys want to eliminate access to it, it's okay. Being tech professionals, they have experience and probably know when it's right to roll out the technologies and let their kids/teenagers start to experiment, and they also have the capacity to teach their kids/teenagers about it. For my generation, a lot of parents were a bit incompetent when it came to computers and new technology.

I feel, left to our own devices, I had close friends who knew how to navigate television, computers, games, internet. There was a sense of destiny and time and place and anchoring--a perfect balance between the analog and digital heritages. Nowadays, with the artificial Pixar/Disney corporate cr-p and smart phones and ipads, I think there is a tendency to be complacent, passive, accepting and "soft."

There has to be smart guardians--older siblings, cousins, young adults--to teach these youngans the principles of the cyber-tech culture from 1998-2004.

Then again, I didn't grow up in some Matrix-like sprawling suburb on the outskirts of a huge Californian metropolis.

rojo wrote:

I personally am thinking of going back to a flip phone.

I found that it was a better solution to simply remove twitter, Facebook, and any other time suck apps that deliver short bursts of pleasure. Now I only use my smartphone for maps, to look something up when I\'m out and about, and for text messages. I\'ve removed email notifications and I\'m tempted to just remove all email from the device. It has really gotten me off of my phone.

I agree absolutely and would never bring something like that into the house. No phone for the kids either. We don't have a tv or video games and the 7 year old, who is a tremendous reader (reading probably two or three dozen chapter books every couple weeks), gets only the occasional computer time, while the 2 year old doesn't get any screen time other than a couple sesame street videos about counting or learning the alphabet, which we watch together, and this only rarely, maybe once every month or two. He loves books as well and we read books for much of the time at home. Otherwise, we walk or run or ride to parks or go to children's activities elsewhere. At least some computer execs realize that their technology is disastrous for children>>doesn't stop them from marketing them to other people's children.

Gonzo wrote:

So Jobs was a hypocrite?

Like Madonna not letting her kid watch TV?

There's a moral there somewhere.

Right. And everyone who makes cars is a hypocrite for not allowing their kids to drive.

Gonzo wrote:

So Jobs was a hypocrite?

Like Madonna not letting her kid watch TV?

There's a moral there somewhere.

Nooooo. Jobs, Madonna, etc. are business people who sell products. This does not mean that they use or even like the products they sell, it means they make money by selling stuff.

Gonzo wrote:

So Jobs was a hypocrite?

Like Madonna not letting her kid watch TV?

There's a moral there somewhere.

Nope. Just a drug dealer.

Jobs was a control freak. We let my kid use whatever computer technology that was available. He's now a manager at Apple.

Old Folks wrote:

Ummm, kids who watch TV or play computer games all day long, fail to develop social skills. What's wrong with requiring your kids to play with "real" friends, or go to to park and run through the leaves and grass?

Why is "real" in quotation marks? Are you implying your kid's friends are not real friends? That they are not real people? That they don't even exist!?!?

My dad emailed me the article this morning and this was my reply:

If my parents were billionaires, I'd probably rather be riding my pony, touring Europe, etc. than trolling the internet too. But I also have to wonder how much they actually monitor their kids outside of their home. Like the last example with the soda hoarder, moderation is a better approach than limitation. I think a better approach is to tell the kids about their concerns. Teach them about cyber bullying, online pornography, etc. so they know how to handle/avoid it. You can't control your kids when they grow up, so equip them with common sense now.

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When I was a kid, we only had one computer to share as a family. The only time limitations were there because everyone wanted to use it. We got the internet in 1995 when I was 9. The "dangers" were there even then. I remember getting hot on in chat rooms at age 11, even (and sometimes especially) after I said I was 11. I remember doing an online search (before "Googling" existed) for "X-Men" and seeing BDSM cartoon drawings of Rogue and Wolverine. However, I was smart enough to know what these things were and get out of there because my parents had already taught me that.

I'm a parent, and I have always limited the amount "screen" time my children are allowed. That time limit increased as they've gotten older, since there are many online sources of information that help them with their homework. That seems to be the actual point of the article:

Since then, I’ve met a number of technology chief executives and venture capitalists who say similar things: they strictly limit their children’s screen time, often banning all gadgets on school nights, and allocating ascetic time limits on weekends.

That sounds about right to me.

Can you give us a couple more workouts? It's hard to guess your probable 5k time based on the info provided.