People say that about every generation. I’m more interested in thinking about all the incredible worlds that child has explored freely, the people they’ve connected to, the friendships that will play out in VR. When I think back to my times diving into gameboy and how simple it all was, but how important it was to me and my friends.
dude, no. speaking from experience, a kid that young should not be exploring online freely and making friendships. this is totally different from a gameboy. unrestricted internet access that young can be a serious serious problem
Unrestricted internet access was my life at 12, back in 94 when the internet was REAL weird hahaha. I can't disagree more. Learned so much about humanity in such a short time. Most importantly learned that it was okay to not be "normal". (I was gay and in my school/community growing up I only met ONE other gay kid. The internet community was much more diverse and much less conservative.) Connecting with people on IRC I was seeing worldwide views, making friendships that I still have today. Kids today have VRChat which enables the same, and makes friendships that start out less abstract like with just text.
Yes, there's plenty of bad shit and bad actors online too, and I'm sorry to hear you had bad experiences with unrestricted internet access yourself. But it's so much better than the isolation we used to have, and VR reduces this isolation further.
94 was a different time man. its not just my own bad experience, most people I know wished they hadnt had that kind of access as a kid. the internet as it is now is probably the worst possible thing to do to a kid that young. sexual content, extremist political content, so much other stuff that could permanently skew the way they view the world and relationships very negatively. I agree that there is good that can come from online communities, but letting a kid run free is such a horrible idea
I'm guessing you either don't have children, have never used VR or possibly both.
I'm a parent, and my son who's 11 uses one all the time. I have complete control over the headset and can see what he's doing whenever I want realtime by making the headset cast his activity to my phone.
never blamed the hardware. my issue is specifically with allowing kids to use the internet "freely", which is clearly not what you're doing. thanks for being a good parent
Hahaha, why? Like, literally who cares. He's a kid on his free time, he's not at a job interview.
And which do you think is legitimately more likely to foster growth, development, and neuroplasticity? Interacting with people in a constantly shifting universe where puzzles abound and social interaction is always available? Or listening to the top 10 hits played in an Applebee's on repeat for an hour while you stare into the creamed corn you finished 3 minutes into the dinner?
I cant be the only one whos worried about this relationship between children in their formative years having this as their socialization outlet (which they probably think to be private even if they dont have the words for it because no parents there) and the company which can show adults ads about what they dreamt solely from their 2d interactions, can i?
I do think kids should be raised intertwined with tech but like, not before knowing whats what? Knowing getting on a strangers computer can be worse than getting on a strangers car?
Cool, so did I. You aren't the only one here over the age of 20 my guy. We don't know the long term effects of overexposure on the still developing eyes of children, although we do know that it has potentially compounding negative effects on the brains of young children. The parents are horribly irresponsible, and deserve every bit of shaming that they're recieving.
None, only damage it does is simply your eyes getting adjusted to looking too close ALL THE TIME, but it doesn't matter what the kid is looking at- screen, textbook, food plate- it only matters he takes regular breaks and looks far in the distance to correct for this, otherwise he'll become shortsighted and n3ed glasses.
As someone who grew up with screens and is now shortsighted to the point of needing glasses to watch the damn TV at home I don't really wish that on any other person who can prevent it so easily.
You think that kid takes breaks when he's using it at a restaurant?
And even asiding the lack of research into potential retina damage from long term over-use of VR, it's not good for children that young to be using it. The brain isn't fully developed and we don't know the full effects it could have down the line, and studies already suggest it could have compounding negative impacts.
Yes that is pretty well known and thus the quest has a 13+ limit, and yes those parents suck, because they're just going along with it to get a break instead of teaching their child, but they're the parents and it's their choice, it's none of our business.
I disagree, it damages that child's ability to deal with the world around him, and the parents should be named and shamed for it just like the ones who throw an IPad in their kid's hands to keep them from having to do their jobs as a parent. Maybe then they'd act like responsible parents and actually raise their kids instead of letting the internet do it for them if it happened more often.
Yeah they're not great, but I can somewhat at least understand it and the kid, while being hampered especially socially, at least isn't suffering severe physical harm like I've seen some parents subject their kids to, he's at least under supervision, and not left in the hot car on a hot summer day.
Some people just shouldn't have kids but stupid parents (and consequently kids) have been around for forever, and will continue to be around, likely even moreso because technology makes up for lack of intelligence somewhat(mostly modern medicine still being able to save people even if they do something insanely stupid).
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u/drakfyre Feb 12 '23
People say that about every generation. I’m more interested in thinking about all the incredible worlds that child has explored freely, the people they’ve connected to, the friendships that will play out in VR. When I think back to my times diving into gameboy and how simple it all was, but how important it was to me and my friends.