Reply to If you have 11-/12-year old boys who DON'T play Fortnite/video game all the time -- what do they do?

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Reply to "If you have 11-/12-year old boys who DON'T play Fortnite/video game all the time -- what do they do?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This whole thread is really disconcerting. "Don't worry, they'll be overscheduled soon enough." So kids are either entertained by very high-stimulation, designed-to-be-addictive games (which also have some positive qualities!) or they have adults filling up their time with structured activities? When do they learn how to manage lives at a normal pace? [/quote]

Define normal. And if your definition is "the way it was when I was a kid" -- life isn't the way it was. Kids have balance, its just they balance activities that are different from what we were balancing. For example, we watched TV after school and after dinner. My kids have never watched a TV show. Not once. They have no interest.

Also, I grew up in a rural area and my kids are growing up in a city. Our childhoods are very different. Both are normal.[/quote]

Nope. That's not at all how I define normal, and I'm not a Luddite. I define normal (true, perhaps not the ideal word choice) as something closer to "self-generated" or "variable" or just generally a pace not "dictated by another force."

"Balance" or "moderation" is nearly 100% subjective and tends to be based on the norms of your peer group-- which are not necessarily or even usually healthy guidelines.

A lot of adults go to work, have their pace largely dictated by their bosses, and come home and spend 50% or more of their free time binge-watching Netflix. I guess if that's "the new normal," I'm just questioning it. I think a lot of parents whose kids get a lot of screen time also have these questions in the backs of their minds, and I think that's healthy. I'm not being a reactionary, I'm not trying to guilt anyone, I'm just expressing what I think is a reasonable amount of discomfort at many of these answers.

I'm just questioning that as a status quo. [/quote]

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