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