Raising Baby Gamers

Ganymede

This was back when TV Was Ruining Our Society.

This was what I remember:

2mspris

This caught me off guard because I was allowed a ton of screen time as a kid, and I'm middle-class white from a nice safe neighborhood. This was back when TV Was Ruining Our Society.

It gave me a moment of pause as well, to be honest. I was also allowed basically as much screen time as I wanted when I was a kid, once we had a tv in our home (I was in 2nd grade when that happened.) but certainly as much as I wanted at my grandparents. And I grew up a white farm kid that yo-yo-ed from middle class to lower class to middle classes until my teens. I've noticed a weird generational thing about tv/screen times, or maybe it's just poor long term memory. As an example, my parents were very free with how much tv we could watch when I was growing up. Not just tv programs though. Beginning with the first Nintendo that came out, my dad had one and he'd play that thing for HOURS while my brothers sat and just stared at the tv, watching him play the games he had. These days, most of the young kids that I know if you ask them what they want to do - they want to either watch YouTube (to watch other people playing video games) or "be a YouTuber". My youngest son often has that response, while my oldest son does post videos and livestreams himself playing games. And my parents harp on and on about this. This is terrible parenting, how can I let them waste time like that, why aren't they outside playing - "When you kids were growing up we would never have let you just sit on those videos like that!" (Exact quote that has been said to me several times now.)

Of course, then they get mad when I laugh at them, and it just goes to show what poor parenting choices I am making...

Lithium

If I was sexy enough to do so and get tons of views, I would totally be a youtuber. But nobody really wants to watch someone like me play video games. I'm also in my 40's, so... it's not just a young person thing

Coin

@Thenomain said in Raising Baby Gamers:

@Gingerlily said in Raising Baby Gamers:

Looking down on parents because of the screen time they allow their kids is both racist and classist.

This caught me off guard because I was allowed a ton of screen time as a kid, and I'm middle-class white from a nice safe neighborhood. This was back when TV Was Ruining Our Society.

Did someone look down on my mother for it? Probably. Did I hear about it? Never. I grew up in a suburban neighborhood that was under development. The worst we were worried about was getting home by dusk and getting beat up by the older kids.

Nowadays? Even in the same area I wouldn't give my kids that freedom. My 11-year-old-nephew has a phone just for the ability to track him, and they live in a fantastic neighborhood with lots of open space. He's also white (mostly, 1/4th Korean).

If the parents are treating this as a class issue then they're dense (edit: though I can see how class and income gives you more leeway for limiting screentime). If they're treating this as a race issue, this baffles my everloving mind. I mean, do white project-kids get less crap for screen time than black project-kids? And if so, where to I pick up my 2x4 and get in line to talk to these people that these things are not related.

Thanks.

Race and class are inextricably bound together. There are exceptions, and in some places, the exceptions get a lot of attention, but by and large, you can't talk about one without the other weighing in.

For an example, in the U.S., you can be white and poor, and you can be rich and black; but you can't be poor because you're white, or rich because you're black; and you can, occasionally, be rich because you're white, and poor because you're black.

Lithium

@Coin said in Raising Baby Gamers:

For an example, in the U.S., you can be white and poor, and you can be rich and black; but you can't be poor because you're white, or rich because you're black; and you can, occasionally, be rich because you're white, and poor because you're black.

I want to live in this magical wonderland where I can be rich because of my race.

You can be rich because of lucky genetics aka being born into a wealthy family, but I've never heard of anywhere that being born white makes you rich.

There are places where /being born at all/ can make you poor, and yes those are often driven by racial lines (I have family on the Reservation still for example), but I am having trouble coming to terms with the: Born white, rich, part.

Coin

@Lithium said in Raising Baby Gamers:

@Coin said in Raising Baby Gamers:

For an example, in the U.S., you can be white and poor, and you can be rich and black; but you can't be poor because you're white, or rich because you're black; and you can, occasionally, be rich because you're white, and poor because you're black.

I want to live in this magical wonderland where I can be rich because of my race.

You can be rich because of lucky genetics aka being born into a wealthy family, but I've never heard of anywhere that being born white makes you rich.

There are places where /being born at all/ can make you poor, and yes those are often driven by racial lines (I have family on the Reservation still for example), but I am having trouble coming to terms with the: Born white, rich, part.

You'll forgive a bit of hyperbole. (Or maybe you won't.)

I was mostly think of people whose fortune tends to be inherited and the source is years of owning land and slaves, for example, where you are basically rich because you're white--no one else would be in that position. Yes, it's a lot less literal than the other examples, but eh.

Lithium

@Coin Well in a world view there are a number of places with similar rules, based on religion or parentage. Which is why I attribute that to more genetic lottery than specific race in general.

Coin

@Lithium said in Raising Baby Gamers:

@Coin Well in a world view there are a number of places with similar rules, based on religion or parentage. Which is why I attribute that to more genetic lottery than specific race in general.

Sure. But you'll notice I began that paragraph with, "For an example, in the U.S.," which is kind of key.

Quibbler

Finished Smarter Then You Think! I quite liked it, thank you for mentioning it. It put into words a lot of things I have thought about technology and communication.

I never used to read non-fiction before I started working in the library. Our website supports lists, and I am adding this to my Non-Boring Non-Fiction list. Gracias!