During the holidays, I went down the rabbit hole on Reddit & found this interesting thread about a phenomenon called ‘iPad Kids’ and I have to admit, this is something I’ve witnessed before, but I just didn’t know it had a name.
This thread gave me a pause and I also started thinking about what the future looks like, when this this the future generation. I remember we discussed an article about A woman dubbing herself 'The Phone Lady ’ who charges $480 an hour to help Gen -Z workers overcome their fear of talking on the phone .
Are we going to have a rise of ‘consultants’ who are going to teach iPad kids how to interact with the REAL world.
Now, for my question to the Mudita Community:
Those of you who have young/small children- how do you approach screen time with your children? Do you set limits? Or do you choose to completely forgo digital tech with your young very young kids?
My kids (12, 9, 4) do not use screens on their own anymore. We watch non-English shows together as a family once a week.
We had a transition period a few years ago where my now 9yo was whining a lot to play games/watch shows. My oldest never cared much, she likes audiobooks and still listens to them, but all this screen-free time she has used to work on reading, music, writing, handwork (knitting, crocheting, sewing, hand lettering, etc).
We recently went on a road trip 4 hours away and they had no devices, and wow they were much better behaved and engaged than when we used to allow some shows and audiobooks on trips.
I have a tween stepchild where we have struggled with the screen time issue, as she has a lot of access with her other parent. Her school requires a laptop, and at one point became a major issue because she argued it was her right to use it. We did realize that her behavior, and basics like eating and sleeping, is much improved when we set firm boundaries on her screen use (not allowed in our house). These observations make me think these screens/devices are harmful to children.
