How did generations with unlimited TV and no enrichment…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We never watched unlimited tv. First of all, there wasn't much on. A couple shows throughout the week. Maybe 4 hours for the whole week, with 2 or those as family shows we watched together.

Same, in the early 80s, plus we were filling our time building the college resume just like kids are today, with sports and clubs and service projects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I watched a TON of TV growing up (but also did sports and choir and hung with friends) and I still don’t think my screen time would be comparable to today’s smart phone addicts and gamer teens.

I also walked to school, spent a ton of time without adult supervision, babysat other kids at age 11+ and went to a tech- free summer camp. I think the time spent with other kids being bored and figuring out what to do is what is really good for critical thinking and brain development, navigating social stuff without constant adult interference in a minimally structured environment, and the chance to be independent is what today’s kids will lack, even if they watch less TV as elem schoolers and get more “enrichment”.

Yep yep yep

[Anonymous]

We didn't need kumon or Khan academy because we actually leaned during the school day and had textbooks to study and keep up with whatever we might have missed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s called a race to the top. No idea what triggered it but everyone doing so much more to impress for college than we had to growing up.

I think it’s a phenomenon that has taken root because the middle class is shrinking and many ppl feel that they need to get their kid into a top competitive school. College costs so much, you’d better make it count!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, we weren’t allowed in the house let alone, watching TV all day. Even if we did, we didn’t have cable so 4 channels (and only 1 TV).

What! Everyone I know watched tons of TV. We were latchkeys kids. Parents worked. We had the house to ourselves. I watch Oprah every day after school, plus hours of MTV. I had my favorite TV shows- Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place on Wednesdays. Friends, Seinfeld on Thursday’s. When I was younger I watched hours of TV on weekend mornings, plus evening TV with Cheers, Cosby Show, Family Ties, Who’s the Boss…I could go on and on…

I also read a ton, and spent time exploring with friends. I never had a tutor and didn’t do any extracurriculars until high school.

I agree that education was also better, with the exception of math, sciences and engineering, which are clearly better now.

+1. I watched all of those shows and you could watch MTV for hours. I also liked reading so I read a lot. I did not do any tutoring type of extracurriculars, just one sport.

[Anonymous]

I definitely did watch a ton of TV in the early 90s. I was a latchkey kid from first grade, came home and watched TV continuously until my parents got home and then I'd watch with them after dinner. I probably watched four or five hours of TV a day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:…succeed in life? Not being snarky, I’m just trying to understand. When I was young, children just watched TV and had no academic “enrichment” outside of perhaps an instrument and a sport. Certainly no Kumon or academic acceleration. They went on to have successful careers and great lives. Were standards lower? Are children going to be a lot smarter because of screen time limits?

More kids were normal. Average. Not stressed out.

I graduated from high school in 1988. I was a really good student. But it was a normal thing for kids to have As, Bs, and Cs. You're right, no enrichment. Rarely a retake -- honestly, only if the teacher felt like they had messed up. It was so much more normal and balanced. Our poor kids today ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, we weren’t allowed in the house let alone, watching TV all day. Even if we did, we didn’t have cable so 4 channels (and only 1 TV).

What! Everyone I know watched tons of TV. We were latchkeys kids. Parents worked. We had the house to ourselves. I watch Oprah every day after school, plus hours of MTV. I had my favorite TV shows- Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place on Wednesdays. Friends, Seinfeld on Thursday’s. When I was younger I watched hours of TV on weekend mornings, plus evening TV with Cheers, Cosby Show, Family Ties, Who’s the Boss…I could go on and on…

I also read a ton, and spent time exploring with friends. I never had a tutor and didn’t do any extracurriculars until high school.

I agree that education was also better, with the exception of math, sciences and engineering, which are clearly better now.

+1. I watched all of those shows and you could watch MTV for hours. I also liked reading so I read a lot. I did not do any tutoring type of extracurriculars, just one sport.

I think you're too young for this conversation then. Melrose place was in the 90s, I was an older teen when it came out, not a kid. Kids in the 70s and 80s weren't watching it. Same for MTV most of us didn't have cable for a long time in the 80s. Kids of the 70s/80s weren't doing this. You are a different generation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think education was much, much better.

Agree. Standards have dropped significantly. Have you visited a one room schoolhouse museum and looked at their work then compared it to what the kids are learning at the same ages? Astounding! I saw a mental map of the world from a 12 year old that my straight A 14 year old at big 3 would not be able to replicate. He was surprised when I told him India was part of Asia the other day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think education was much, much better.

Agree. Standards have dropped significantly. Have you visited a one room schoolhouse museum and looked at their work then compared it to what the kids are learning at the same ages? Astounding! I saw a mental map of the world from a 12 year old that my straight A 14 year old at big 3 would not be able to replicate. He was surprised when I told him India was part of Asia the other day.

Huh, that may be your kid. My Title 1 attending second grader can draw a world map with all of the continents labeled and 10+ countries. More if you told her to fill in Latin America specifically. She loves geography and world cultures, but a teenager not knowing where India is seems more like a gap than the norm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I definitely did watch a ton of TV in the early 90s. I was a latchkey kid from first grade, came home and watched TV continuously until my parents got home and then I'd watch with them after dinner. I probably watched four or five hours of TV a day.

Nothing different now. Today many kids are on the internet 4 or 5 hours a day!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I definitely did watch a ton of TV in the early 90s. I was a latchkey kid from first grade, came home and watched TV continuously until my parents got home and then I'd watch with them after dinner. I probably watched four or five hours of TV a day.

I remember my mom limiting TV time once I became a latchkey kid in the 90s. I wanted to watch Full House after school and she'd check the back of the TV to feel if it was warm when she got home. So I started going over a neighbor's house and watching it there. I'm sure she had her reasons, but all my brain remembers is trying to figure out how long the TV had to be off to cool back down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I definitely did watch a ton of TV in the early 90s. I was a latchkey kid from first grade, came home and watched TV continuously until my parents got home and then I'd watch with them after dinner. I probably watched four or five hours of TV a day.

I remember my mom limiting TV time once I became a latchkey kid in the 90s. I wanted to watch Full House after school and she'd check the back of the TV to feel if it was warm when she got home. So I started going over a neighbor's house and watching it there. I'm sure she had her reasons, but all my brain remembers is trying to figure out how long the TV had to be off to cool back down.

🤣🤣 love this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, we weren’t allowed in the house let alone, watching TV all day. Even if we did, we didn’t have cable so 4 channels (and only 1 TV).

What! Everyone I know watched tons of TV. We were latchkeys kids. Parents worked. We had the house to ourselves. I watch Oprah every day after school, plus hours of MTV. I had my favorite TV shows- Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place on Wednesdays. Friends, Seinfeld on Thursday’s. When I was younger I watched hours of TV on weekend mornings, plus evening TV with Cheers, Cosby Show, Family Ties, Who’s the Boss…I could go on and on…

I also read a ton, and spent time exploring with friends. I never had a tutor and didn’t do any extracurriculars until high school.

I agree that education was also better, with the exception of math, sciences and engineering, which are clearly better now.

This is my exact experience in NJ (suburban NYC) in the 80’s. I’m a doctor now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I definitely did watch a ton of TV in the early 90s. I was a latchkey kid from first grade, came home and watched TV continuously until my parents got home and then I'd watch with them after dinner. I probably watched four or five hours of TV a day.

I remember my mom limiting TV time once I became a latchkey kid in the 90s. I wanted to watch Full House after school and she'd check the back of the TV to feel if it was warm when she got home. So I started going over a neighbor's house and watching it there. I'm sure she had her reasons, but all my brain remembers is trying to figure out how long the TV had to be off to cool back down.

🤣🤣 love this

I remember my friend wasn’t allowed to use the stove when her mom wasn’t home. She really wanted some spaghettio’s, so she heated them on the gas stove. When she was done, she took the grates and threw them out the window into the snow so they would cool down fast before her mom got home. She went out to get them then trampled the area with her feet so her mom wouldn’t see the marks from the grates in the snow 😂