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#11
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advice on game systems?
On Jan 2, 6:36*pm, KLE wrote:
snip And for those of you who will say they'll still play the games we don't approve at their friends' homes, so far the older one has shown a lot of maturity and integrity in that area and has declined to play such games at the neighbor's house, even asking me to tell the mom he didn't want to play them. (The younger neighbor son had gotten into the older son's games, apparently.) Today's (Jan 4 2008) Wall Street Journal has a jeremiad against video games by Stephen Moore, which has reinforced my decision not to buy them for my kids now or in the future (let's see how long that resolution lasts). http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110011080 Teenage Zombies By STEPHEN MOORE January 4, 2008; Page W11 My new year's resolution is to get my two teenage sons back. They've been abducted -- by the cult of Nintendo. I'm convinced that video games are Japan's stealth strategy to turn our kids' brains into silly putty as payback for dropping the big one on Hiroshima. The trouble began last summer when my sons started spending virtually every unsupervised hour camped out in front of the computer screen engaged in multiplayer role games like World of Warcraft and Counterstrike. At the start of this craze, I wrote it off as merely a normal phase of adolescence. I was confident that, at 14 and 16, they would soon be more interested in chasing real-life girls than virtual video hoodlums. Boy, was I wrong. Their compulsion became steadily more destructive. They grew increasingly withdrawn, walking around like the zombies from "Night of the Living Dead." Unless I pried them (forcibly) from the computer, they would spend five or six hours at a time absorbed in these online fantasy worlds. My wife tried to calm me down by observing that "at least they're not out having sex or doing drugs." But how would that be any worse? Both are decent athletes, but their muscles began to atrophy right before our very eyes; their skin tone paled from lack of sunlight. Their idea of playing sports these days is inserting Madden football or the NBA slam-dunk game into our Xbox. We recently considered purchasing the new Nintendo Wii, because at least its games -- simulated bowling, snow boarding, guitar playing and motorcycling -- require physical activity. Nintendo even advertises this product as good exercise for kids, and I have colleagues who swear that they get a great workout from Wii boxing and skiing. Alas, a new study from the British Health Journal suggest that Wii is no substitute for the real and vigorous outdoor exercise that adolescent boys need. My wife and I aren't entirely inept parents -- our 6-year-old seems fairly well-adjusted anyway. Back in October we established for the older boys strict screen-time limits. It was then that we discovered the true extent of their addiction. They ranted and raved and cursed and even threw things -- almost as if demons had taken possession of them. These are classic withdrawal symptoms; they craved a fix. When we installed parental controls on the computer, our boys scoffed. It took them about 15 minutes to disable them. We've become so desperate that we may have to get rid of the computers entirely, though that may hamper their school work. It turns out that we're not alone in our predicament. A parent down the street confided to us that his 12-year-old son was so obsessed with video games that he wouldn't take even a three-minute break from gaming to go to the bathroom -- with unfortunate results. The other day we saw a kid at church, in a semi-trance, going down the aisle to Holy Communion while clicking on a hand-held Game Boy. Talk about worshiping a false god. This summer the American Medical Association's annual conference debated a proposal to declare excessive video gaming a "formal disorder" in the category of other addictions like alcohol, drugs and gambling. One study released at the AMA conference found that many kids who spend a disproportionate amount of time playing games "achieve more control and success of their social relationships in the virtual reality realm than in real relationships." I'm not one to blame every human frailty on some faddish psychiatric disorder. But I'm persuaded that computer games are the new crack cocaine. The testimonials from parents of online gamers are horrific: kids not taking showers, not eating or sleeping, falling behind in school. Some parents are forced to send their kids to therapeutic boarding schools, which charge up to $5,000 a month, to combat the gaming addiction. The war lords of the gaming industry tout research on the positive attributes of gaming -- and admittedly there are some. One study published this year in Psychological Science finds that gaming improves eyesight. A famous 2004 study by researchers at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, found that video games improve manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination: "Doctors who spend at least 3 hours a week playing video games," the researchers reported, "made about 37% fewer mistakes in laproscopic surgery." Fine. I'll give my sons the joysticks back when they become orthopedic surgeons. In the meantime, what is to be done? I'm not suggesting making the games illegal -- we don't need a multibillion-dollar black market in video games. But I am pleading that parents take this social problem seriously and intervene, as my wife and I wish we had done much earlier. November sales for the Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3, and the games that go with them, were up a gaudy 52% over last year. In my neck of the woods, Wii's were such hot sellers that they weren't available in the stores at any price. I'm proud to report that we rejected our youngest son's pleas for a PlayStation for Christmas. He pouts that we're the meanest parents in the world. Someday he'll thank us. A mind really is a terrible thing to waste. |
#12
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advice on game systems?
On Jan 3, 11:12*pm, "deja.blues" wrote:
Children do get exposure to computers in a school setting, but I don't see them taking the place of learning to write or replacing a classroom setting anytime soon. Perhaps not in elementary schools, but many high schools have their students using personal laptops for a large percentage, if not all of their school work. Webcam teaching, conference groups, even worldwide with other students in some other country, teachers can be teaching not in front of the class but in segments downloaded at a students individual pace and homework can be sent in on a disk, uploaded or emailed to the teacher for review. All paperless. Yes it *is* the wave of the future and a young child who knows their way around a computer will be one step ahead of the pack. And to the person who posted about how their young teens were zombies in front of the computers, its just like television. You are the parent, act like one and set some rules. You dont let your child watch what they want to when they want to, so the same goes for video games. Let em howl. Then do something constructive with them, ya know spend some time with them doing outdoor stuff or go somewhere together - like actually be an involved parent. joanne |
#13
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advice on game systems?
"joni" wrote in message ... On Jan 3, 11:12 pm, "deja.blues" wrote: Children do get exposure to computers in a school setting, but I don't see them taking the place of learning to write or replacing a classroom setting anytime soon. Perhaps not in elementary schools, but many high schools have their students using personal laptops for a large percentage, if not all of their school work. Webcam teaching, conference groups, even worldwide with other students in some other country, teachers can be teaching not in front of the class but in segments downloaded at a students individual pace and homework can be sent in on a disk, uploaded or emailed to the teacher for review. All paperless. I have a 12th grader, a 9th grader, and 4th grader in a very large, well-funded and technologically up-to-date suburban school district. Students do not take their own notebook computers to school. They have personal drives and directories on the school server where they store their work, and use flash drives to transport files. Teachers post homework on their websites. My kids have written many papers, and teachers still want them printed and handed in on hard copy. Yes it *is* the wave of the future and a young child who knows their way around a computer will be one step ahead of the pack. You'd be hard-pressed to find a young child today who doesn't know how to use a computer. My youngest son has had a gmail account since he was 7. Frankly, I think kids should learn how to do stuff like carpentry and cooking. Any idiot can use a computer, but show me someone who can saw a board in half or make an omelette. |
#14
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advice on game systems?
"joni" wrote in message ... And to the person who posted about how their young teens were zombies in front of the computers, That was a cut and paste of a Wall Street Times article. |
#15
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advice on game systems?
"deja.blues" wrote in
news:uWEfj.1607$%A6.282@trndny08: "joni" wrote in message groups.com... On Jan 3, 11:12 pm, "deja.blues" Yes it *is* the wave of the future and a young child who knows their way around a computer will be one step ahead of the pack. You'd be hard-pressed to find a young child today who doesn't know how to use a computer. My youngest son has had a gmail account since he was 7. mine has had email since he was 13 hours old. he's been playing on my computer since he was around a year old. he has his own laptop now (thanks to gramma & grampa). Frankly, I think kids should learn how to do stuff like carpentry and cooking. Any idiot can use a computer, but show me someone who can saw a board in half or make an omelette. well, pretty much any idiot can saw a board too, it's just getting the cut where you need it & at the exact angle but i agree that dropping things from school curriculums in favor of more reading & arithmatic (thanks to NCLB), things like music, arts, shop & basic home ec for *all* students are just plain stupid. first, because people *do* need to be exposed to the arts & more and more frequently are not exposed at home, and also because we're raising a nation of functional idiots. lee |
#16
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advice on game systems?
deja.blues wrote:
"joni" wrote in message Perhaps not in elementary schools, but many high schools have their students using personal laptops for a large percentage, if not all of their school work. Webcam teaching, conference groups, even worldwide with other students in some other country, teachers can be teaching not in front of the class but in segments downloaded at a students individual pace and homework can be sent in on a disk, uploaded or emailed to the teacher for review. All paperless. I have a 12th grader, a 9th grader, and 4th grader in a very large, well-funded and technologically up-to-date suburban school district. Students do not take their own notebook computers to school. They have personal drives and directories on the school server where they store their work, and use flash drives to transport files. Teachers post homework on their websites. My kids have written many papers, and teachers still want them printed and handed in on hard copy. Similar district here, except that it is common for teachers to accept assignments turned in either on hardcopy or electronically. Some schools are going exclusively to electronic submission, particularly so that they can run electronic checks for plagiarism. I doubt distance learning technologies are replacing classroom instruction for any substantive fraction of elementary or secondary classes in the US. Maybe someday well into the future, but not now except perhaps in isolated instances. I also doubt that there are many public secondary schools where all the students are bringing in personal laptops. Best wishes, Ericka |
#17
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advice on game systems?
On Jan 2, 6:36 pm, KLE wrote: We have 2 boys, almost 4 and almost 8. So far our kids have only done any kind of electronic game playing on the computer with educational games we own or online ( Blues Clues, Magic School Bus, PBS Kids, etc.). For a long time I was dead set against having a video gaming system (the kind that hooks up to the TV), but I am now coming around to my husband's point of view that if we want to continue to exert strong influence over the types of games our kids play, it might be a good idea to have a machine of our own so our kids can play the games we approve of at home and hopefully their friends will play here, too. So now I'm considering looking into a unit for their birthdays, or maybe next Christmas. Of all the different game systems available, is there any one system any of you have found to offer a large variety of educational or non-violent games appropriate for kids under 10? And for those of you who will say they'll still play the games we don't approve at their friends' homes, so far the older one has shown a lot of maturity and integrity in that area and has declined to play such games at the neighbor's house, even asking me to tell the mom he didn't want to play them. (The younger neighbor son had gotten into the older son's games, apparently.) Thanks for any advice or guidance. Karen Thanks for all the great info and advice! I'll talk it over some more with my husband and see what time frame he was thinking about going ahead with one of these units. I was interested to hear that Lego Star Wars could be played on the computer with a special controller, as that game is the big draw next door where they have a gamecube and upgraded to an xbox for xmas. I do have concerns as someone pointed out though about the family computer never being quite updated enough to run these demanding games; I think we're probably at that point now, and need to think about upgrading the home computer in the foreseeable future. I think for the age they are and our current budget, the gamecube and hoarding games for it may be the way to go, then in a few years plan and budget for whatever the current, more heavy duty system will be. I understand that the gamecube games can be played on the Wii - can the Wii games play on the gamecube? Thanks again. Karen |
#18
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advice on game systems?
KLE wrote:
I understand that the gamecube games can be played on the Wii - can the Wii games play on the gamecube? No, you have to have a Wii to play Wii games. Best wishes, Ericka |
#19
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advice on game systems?
"Ericka Kammerer" wrote in message ... I also doubt that there are many public secondary schools where all the students are bringing in personal laptops. In South Dakota more and more schools are issuing each high school student their own laptop. I think the goal is that by 2010 all districts in the state will issue each student a laptop. So at least here, students have laptops, they are built in to the curriculum, and they are expected to bring them and use them. -- Nikki, mama to Hunter 4/99 Luke 4/01 Brock 4/06 Ben 4/06 |
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