Asian Kids and Screentime

[Anonymous]

I let my DS watch TV and use an iPhone to play. Though he doesn't watch a lot, he enjoys the noise and the maneuvering on the device. I had a woman at a Chinese restaurant say to me that kids in her community (she may have just said Asian kids) are really adept at electronics. It made me wonder, are just Americans hung up on screentime/electronics? It seemed to be a point of fact, if not pride, when she said it.

Are there any Asian parents that can weigh in on this? I'm not looking for any stereotypes or to get into any nonsense, just curious, though.

[Anonymous]

Asian here.
We never restricted TV. We still don't.
Restricted the ipad for a while when DD was in upper elementary. Now that she's in middle school, zero restrictions.
Younger kid isn't as interested with iphones yet but he can use the ipad for as much as he wants.

[Anonymous]

Us Asians are all tiger parents with no creative talent and let our kids play on screens for way too long while prepping our kids for Ivies and destroying their childhood.

That's going to be the jist of this thread.

Now let's move onto Whites and screen time, Hispanics and Screen time, Africans and screen time and African Americans and screen time. Heck, let's throw in Jews and screen time too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I let my DS watch TV and use an iPhone to play. Though he doesn't watch a lot, he enjoys the noise and the maneuvering on the device. I had a woman at a Chinese restaurant say to me that kids in her community (she may have just said Asian kids) are really adept at electronics. It made me wonder, are just Americans hung up on screentime/electronics? It seemed to be a point of fact, if not pride, when she said it.

Are there any Asian parents that can weigh in on this? I'm not looking for any stereotypes or to get into any nonsense, just curious, though.

1) Americans are crazy hung up on screen time and electronics. They don't seem to grasp this is the first native user generation. This is the new reality. Trying to prevent their use is an exercise in futility at best, puts kids at a disadvantage at minimum, and is just really stupid.

2) Stop comparing ourselves to Asian kids. Last time I checked, Asians weren't exactly ruling the world. What a strange thing to worry about. Name one Asian country that's going to dominate in the future? It's not going to be Japan or China. Taiwan, maybe. Not Mongolia or Bangladesh. Or any of the 'stans. Why worry about this?

[Anonymous]

I'd be interested to hear also from Asian folks who are in the tech industry specifically, since you hear so much about how Steve Jobs disn't let his kids use the iPad etc.

FWIW, we're a White non-Hispanic family. We let DS (3) watch a good amount of screen time, very little on TV but rather a lot of kid shows (eg Netflix) and learning games on the iPad. He probably watches 1-2hrs per day during the week.

[Anonymous]

It is true that most Asians seem to share the opinion that technology is good, technology will make your kids successful and earn a lot of money and so the earlier they become pros at handling technology the more likely they will have successful, high income jobs later. And it also seems generally true that Asian families are a LOT more about success and money than emotions in their families. I say this as the Caucasian wife to an Asian husband with lots of contacts in the Asian community. I hear both points no matter which Asian family I talk to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I let my DS watch TV and use an iPhone to play. Though he doesn't watch a lot, he enjoys the noise and the maneuvering on the device. I had a woman at a Chinese restaurant say to me that kids in her community (she may have just said Asian kids) are really adept at electronics. It made me wonder, are just Americans hung up on screentime/electronics? It seemed to be a point of fact, if not pride, when she said it.

Are there any Asian parents that can weigh in on this? I'm not looking for any stereotypes or to get into any nonsense, just curious, though.

1) Americans are crazy hung up on screen time and electronics. They don't seem to grasp this is the first native user generation. This is the new reality. Trying to prevent their use is an exercise in futility at best, puts kids at a disadvantage at minimum, and is just really stupid.

2) Stop comparing ourselves to Asian kids. Last time I checked, Asians weren't exactly ruling the world. What a strange thing to worry about. Name one Asian country that's going to dominate in the future? It's not going to be Japan or China. Taiwan, maybe. Not Mongolia or Bangladesh. Or any of the 'stans. Why worry about this?

People who are educated in the fields of brain development and emotional development of children are the ones saying the less screen time for young children the better. It has nothing to with not wanting kids to know how to handle technology. It's about letting them become well developed human beings before subjecting them to technology too much. Kids learn fast. They don't need to get their first iPad at 3 in order to become web developers, programmers, IT professionals, engineers or whatever other job they want to be when they grow up. People who believe that children NEED technology before the teenage years are the ones misinformed. And yes, there are plenty of studies about this and plenty of expert opinions on the matter.

[Anonymous]

People who are educated in the fields of brain development and emotional development of children are the ones saying the less screen time for young children the better.

Any of this info coming from the East or only Western countries? Science is science, so it would stand to reason that the conclusion is the same worldwide.

[Anonymous]

Asian here.
We never restricted TV. We still don't.
Restricted the ipad for a while when DD was in upper elementary. Now that she's in middle school, zero restrictions.
Younger kid isn't as interested with iphones yet but he can use the ipad for as much as he wants.

OP here. Would you say you guys are TV people or the take or leave the TV-type? I think if I'd had my druthers in middle school, that's all I would have done. Honestly, it's almost all I did!! It was a bone of contention, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I let my DS watch TV and use an iPhone to play. Though he doesn't watch a lot, he enjoys the noise and the maneuvering on the device. I had a woman at a Chinese restaurant say to me that kids in her community (she may have just said Asian kids) are really adept at electronics. It made me wonder, are just Americans hung up on screentime/electronics? It seemed to be a point of fact, if not pride, when she said it.

Are there any Asian parents that can weigh in on this? I'm not looking for any stereotypes or to get into any nonsense, just curious, though.

1) Americans are crazy hung up on screen time and electronics. They don't seem to grasp this is the first native user generation. This is the new reality. Trying to prevent their use is an exercise in futility at best, puts kids at a disadvantage at minimum, and is just really stupid.

2) Stop comparing ourselves to Asian kids. Last time I checked, Asians weren't exactly ruling the world. What a strange thing to worry about. Name one Asian country that's going to dominate in the future? It's not going to be Japan or China. Taiwan, maybe. Not Mongolia or Bangladesh. Or any of the 'stans. Why worry about this?

People who are educated in the fields of brain development and emotional development of children are the ones saying the less screen time for young children the better. It has nothing to with not wanting kids to know how to handle technology. It's about letting them become well developed human beings before subjecting them to technology too much. Kids learn fast. They don't need to get their first iPad at 3 in order to become web developers, programmers, IT professionals, engineers or whatever other job they want to be when they grow up. People who believe that children NEED technology before the teenage years are the ones misinformed. And yes, there are plenty of studies about this and plenty of expert opinions on the matter.

Doctors used to believe smoking was healthy. So, forgive me for being underwhelmed by this.

Children don't need technology. But they are very good with it. Arbitrarily keeping them from it seems stupid.

Still not clearly what this has to do with Asians.

[Anonymous]

Still not clearly what this has to do with Asians.

It was my first encounter since having a child where someone didn't act weird about iPhones/screentime (that it was bad). Didn't know if it was a cultural difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Still not clearly what this has to do with Asians.

It was my first encounter since having a child where someone didn't act weird about iPhones/screentime (that it was bad). Didn't know if it was a cultural difference.

I don't think the vast majority of people are hung up about screen time and children. I think this is a rather unique attribute of the overly anxious helicopter parent set. It's fairly common in these parts, but in the rest of the country, where parents are more laid back and don't think every decision/action has long-term ramifications for their children's well-being, it's not a thing.

[Anonymous]

I'm Asian, DH is Caucasian. We do restrict screen time to some degree. I say "to some degree", because there have been days when we let them on electronics for a long time, especially in the summer. Our kids are in ES. We are also both in IT. We believe that early on in their development, they do need to learn to explore, do imaginitive play, go outside, run around, learn how to occupy yourself without an electronic item.

A lot of people we know in IT also limit to some degree electronic time for their kids.

That said, my dc#1 goes to a technology summer camp, and dc is quite computer savvy.

[Anonymous]

Plopping a young child in front of a TV or computer screen is easiest for the parents.

I never trust what is easy for parents.


Besides, if you needed to be adept at technology as a child in order to succeed in world of technology as an adult - then how do you explain people like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs?


The fact will always remain that we need children to develop all facets of their brains and school, lectures, reading, imagining will never come as fast as the images on a screen which will limit the child.

[Anonymous]

Besides, if you needed to be adept at technology as a child in order to succeed in world of technology as an adult - then how do you explain people like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs?

Didn't you read Outliers? 10000 hours, family background and resources AND the years they were born. It was fascinating!