by mark on June 17, 2009
Report: 90% Of Waking Hours Spent Staring At Glowing Rectangles
The rectangles even help Americans to successfully emote, often by using a combination of visual and aural signals to indicate when laughter or tears should be produced.
“Life would be very different if it weren’t for these magical squares of light,” cultural studies professor and social critic David Ostroff typed to reporters using one of his wireless messaging rectangles. “Sry. Have 2 go. Movie about 2 strt.”
On average, Americans interact with anywhere from 53 to 107 pulsating rectangles every week. For many, however, this is simply not enough. Despite having a leisure rectangle in every bedroom, along with multiple work rectangles, a rectangle just for the children, and one or two rectangles that can do the work of several rectangles in one, many citizens admit to being dissatisfied.
If Apple really wanted to be different, they would avoid building another rectangular device and do something insanely great, like give us a glowing nonagon, or a let’s get all retro and go back to the 1950′s style glowing squircles.
Have you ever measured how much time your kids are in front of all glowing rectangles? It would be an interesting experiment. I wonder if we actually did measure all of that time with TV, computers, iPods, and video games, if it would make us more likely to impose limits.
If you do come up with measurements, post them in the comments.
For my two kids, my son exceeds my daughter by a large margin. My daughter is mostly in front of her computer, while my son does a considerable amount of TV and iPod Touch staring in addition to the time he spends on the computer and it can consume an unhealthy amount of time.
by mark on March 18, 2009
Computer Games are Good for Kids, Parents Say (Microsoft-commissioned survey of parents). Commenter “WinTard” says,
I would agree. My kid has been playing with computers since age 1, starting with Mother Goose. It allows them to familiarize themselves with a critical tool that will be necessary for their future success in the 3rd millennium and 21st century. And it develops an interest and passion for something worthwhile.
The major source of calamity in our society is people plodding through life without direction or objectives. And idle, bored minds turn to nasty things…
How did our civilization ever prosper in the days before computers?
Why do so many parents get this so wrong? Idle, bored minds eventually turn toward imagination and creativity. Parents need to read Richard Louv and Jane Healy.
There is plenty of time for kids to acquaint themselves with technology. They don’t need a mouse shoved into their hands at one year or even five. Jane Healy, who has studied kids and computers thinks age 7 is a good time to introduce kids to computers. Young kids should be exploring the real world with all of their senses. They really don’t need the distraction of computers.
When did your kids start using computers? Do you think what they have learned will be a major factor in their success in life?
by mark on December 18, 2008
This week, ComputerTime was recommended in an article in USA Today called “Gifts that are Good for You“. Yay! The author of the article turns out to be a Mom that actually has been using the software for a while and she really liked it.
For the harried parents of a computer addict: Just send them to softwaretime.com. Here they can download a free two-week trial of the diabolical ComputerTime software. (If they like it, offer to spring for the $39 permanent version.) The program lets a parent set time limits. The kids get passwords to log on for their allowed periods and are blessedly, quietly, automatically logged off when their time expires. No screaming arguments, no sneaky midnight Facebook sessions.
She didn’t even touch on Time Tokens or that you can have one set of limits across all of the computers on your home network. But I like the “diabolical” label that she puts on it. Why haven’t we used that in our marketing? Hmmm.
Have you tried ComputerTime yet? If you have, we would enjoy hearing how it works out for your family. If you haven’t tried it out, it’s available as a 14-day free trial, so why not give it a shot?
by mark on February 19, 2008
On a weekday morning, last week, I was waking up, still a bit groggy, when I heard my daughter excitedly calling her brother over to the window, saying something about “birds”. It sounded like my son was unimpressed, but her enthusiasm was surprising for 6:45am.
When I got out of bed and went to the kitchen, I asked, “What were you showing your brother this morning? Something about birds?”
She said, “Oh ya! I was getting ready for school, and I could hear all these birds singing outside! I can’t remember the last time I heard them. I got excited.”
I laughed at the weirdness of it all — but is it that weird, really? We forget how much nature offers us when we rush around all of the time. We’re so busy with work, school, being connected to gadgets, and stuck indoors during the cold season. When winter wraps up and warmer days bring singing birds back, it really does make us feel better. We welcome back a missing piece of our wellness.
I was happy that she kicked off her morning with the happiness of the chirpy birds, but if nature is so important to the well-being of my kids, I worry a bit. They get a lot less of nature’s positive influences than my generation did as kids. I would easily spend eight to ten hours outdoors with other kids on a weekend day in the summer. The kids I see today probably spend a quarter of that time outdoors on a good day! Computers, video games, cell phones and television contribute to keeping kids indoors.
This is why a coalition of groups, led by the Rio Grande chapter of the Sierra Club, wants lawmakers in New Mexico to implement a one-percent tax on video games, game consoles, and TVs. This would create a fund to help pay for outdoor education.
“We believe that an outdoor education program in New Mexico could be funded through a tax on the very activities that are divorcing kids from nature, promoting more sedentary lifestyles,” said Michael Casaus, Sierra Club’s New Mexico youth representative. “One of those culprits is TV and what we call screen time.” (CNN)
Those are sentiments that most concerned parents share, but is more government intervention, laws, and bureaucracy really the answer? Do we really need to outsource parental responsibilities to the government?
Parents already have a lot on their plates and are stressed, but consider Richard Louv’s point from his book, “Last Child in the Woods“: Nature can be an antidote to the problems parents are experiencing. “Stress reduction, greater physical health, a deeper sense of spirit, more creativity, a sense of play, even a safer life – these are the rewards that await a family when it invites more nature into children’s lives,” he says.
It’s our job as parents to get kids off the computers and video games and get them outdoors. It is also important to be involved with them in nature and encourage it by being good role models. We should also enjoy what nature has to offer to us for our own well-being.
