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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=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.

[/quote]

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? [/quote]

[b]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. [/b]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.[/quote]

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.[/quote]

If you don't have the ability to witness yourself what sitting in front of a screen does to children then I feel sorry for you. The blank stare, the total lack of movement, the hypnotic effect technology has on kids, the messed up posture, the addictive effects, the being branded towards merchandise...there is nothing screens can do for a kid that a real person can not do - but with a real person there aren't any of the downsides of screen time to developing brains.

Just because kids are good with something does not at all mean they should be doing it. Kids could drink very well. Smoke very well. Run around on the streets very well. Eat dirt all day. Whatever. Kids could be good at a ton of things we all know aren't good for them so we don't let them do it - the day will come when people realize screen time is one of those things but I guess it will take decades just like with demonizing tobacco for what it really is. Unfortunately by then millions of kids will have been subjected to hours of screen time per day because their parents felt like they needed to disregard the facts. I feel sorry for those kids today and am doing my best to make sure my kids grow up healthy.[/quote]

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