if you want kids to "go outside" instead of being on their devices how about you work to restore 3rd spaces for them instead of trying to ban them from social media
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@brunogirin @eniko and/or make it so that they can ride their bikes there and back, with good chances of returning unharmed and alive
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@sijmen The doom-scrolling effects are secondary to the accelerated effects of generations of empathy integration, wildly vacillating to a far smaller focal point in a cell phone. Add the deleterious effects of doom-scrolling to that, and you get a recipe for human behavior crises.
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if you want kids to "go outside" instead of being on their devices how about you work to restore 3rd spaces for them instead of trying to ban them from social media
@eniko @lisamelton that would be far too logical and we can’t have that!
(But yes 100% agree, and will add that 3rd spaces for adults as well)
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if you want kids to "go outside" instead of being on their devices how about you work to restore 3rd spaces for them instead of trying to ban them from social media
@eniko problem: social media is designed by large teams of well paid professional researchers to be addictive to the human brain by using EVERY trick in the book.
How can outside compete? Parents are encouraged to keep kids safe and quiet, too. Out of the way. Social media mostly does that.
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@eniko and give them free public transport to get there.
Edit: fixed typo because I have no idea what "Fred public transport" is. Thanks autocorrect, I guess?
@brunogirin @eniko Maybe Fred is a nice guy that'll drive people where they want to go.
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@brunogirin @eniko Maybe Fred is a nice guy that'll drive people where they want to go.
️@weirdfoodie @eniko probably this guy, he's got a nice car: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Flintstone
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if you want kids to "go outside" instead of being on their devices how about you work to restore 3rd spaces for them instead of trying to ban them from social media
@eniko THIS!
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@eniko Also the data say kids are going outside _more_ because of phones https://ohai.social/@Garwboy/117292263825574595
@arclight oh that’s cool to hear. I’d love to read that data if you have a link.
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if you want kids to "go outside" instead of being on their devices how about you work to restore 3rd spaces for them instead of trying to ban them from social media
@eniko
My then 11 year old (now 13) son had gotten into a new outdoor hobby. He was taking up archery. He was going out regularly having a great time.But a holier-than-thou neighbor kept harassing us despite being nowhere near his property, so my son gave up on his archery and went back to looking at screens. I told him he didn't have to give it up, but a strange adult kept harassing us, and surprisingly an 11 year old autistic kid doesn't want to deal with that.
Third places are important, but just as important is the adult population leaving kids alone and letting them be kids, especially on their own lawns!
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@eniko I just got a reply to something I wrote that said "We don't generally accept that children are free to go outside alone".
This was stated both as fact and as something that the writer wanted. I believe this is the foundation of everything in this space. There is a widespread doctrine that children should not be allowed to do things without their parents (or maybe other adults), and this doctrine is poisoning the children.
@ahltorp @eniko it’s true in the US. https://abcnews.com/GMA/Family/mom-investigated-letting-6-year-ride-scooter-solo/story?id=129698243 they pop up in the news every few months. They don’t normally end in charges but the fact they get investigated is proof it isn’t expected.
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if you want kids to "go outside" instead of being on their devices how about you work to restore 3rd spaces for them instead of trying to ban them from social media
@eniko Going outside a big part of it.
Parents on computers saying "Stop doing what I'm doing" all a bit silly.
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@eniko Plonk a disused UFO outside your house, the kids will be outdoors in a flash.
@khleedril @eniko There was a frigging' steam locomotive in the playground of my local Zoo (Cologne) - Hell yeah was I ever pumped to go to the Zoo when my grandparents would take me (because entrance fee...)
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if you want kids to "go outside" instead of being on their devices how about you work to restore 3rd spaces for them instead of trying to ban them from social media
@eniko As a former middle school/high school teacher, I cannot scream "THIS!" loud enough. People spending all this money to campaign against "screen time" will preach parents should get their kids involved in after-school activities, but schools' groups do not offer enough roles for all kids to participate, and not all families can pay the fees parents are still expected to contribute or for football leagues, swim teams, dance classes outside of school. Maybe spend all that anti-screen campaign money on providing free activities and third spaces for all children instead? Sorry for the small book here, but I literally had kids telling me that they went to hang out in a parking garage (car park) because there was nowhere else they could go on their lunch.
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@eniko
Like leaving the wooded area at the of the street undeveloped, not doing anything with a random open field and let unorganized activities happen, make sure kids can get to a rec center without crossing a six lane road.@V_Mags_Fox @eniko I had *the best* childhood experience, because the other side of our cul-de-sac was not developed.
There was a slope down for about a meter or so, and then it was overgrown with bushes and trees.
As a result, we had complete invisibility from our parents in our own private "woods", but our parents could easily *hear* what was going on from the other side of the road. So we were never fully alone, and got help (if needed) within seconds.
It got even better, actually.
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@V_Mags_Fox @eniko I had *the best* childhood experience, because the other side of our cul-de-sac was not developed.
There was a slope down for about a meter or so, and then it was overgrown with bushes and trees.
As a result, we had complete invisibility from our parents in our own private "woods", but our parents could easily *hear* what was going on from the other side of the road. So we were never fully alone, and got help (if needed) within seconds.
It got even better, actually.
@V_Mags_Fox @eniko Because only about 2/3rds of the area was like that.
Then there was a little stream, which was a tad swampy towards the back, but never deeper than about 20cm or so. Enough for a kid to get stuck in the mud, but not enough to sink. On the other side of the area, the stream was running fast, but only 2-3cm deep. Then it vanished into a tube, which came out in one of the neighbours' gardens.
(Of course we let boats go through the tube)
Beyond the stream was just a small...
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@eniko
My then 11 year old (now 13) son had gotten into a new outdoor hobby. He was taking up archery. He was going out regularly having a great time.But a holier-than-thou neighbor kept harassing us despite being nowhere near his property, so my son gave up on his archery and went back to looking at screens. I told him he didn't have to give it up, but a strange adult kept harassing us, and surprisingly an 11 year old autistic kid doesn't want to deal with that.
Third places are important, but just as important is the adult population leaving kids alone and letting them be kids, especially on their own lawns!
@meadow I'm sorry to hear you're having to deal with a neighbor like that. Archery is such a great activity. I hope your son can get back into it in the future. My 12-yo enjoys it as well (though other outdoor hobbies have taken over lately). Thankfully our neighbors have been pretty chill about it. @eniko
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if you want kids to "go outside" instead of being on their devices how about you work to restore 3rd spaces for them instead of trying to ban them from social media
@eniko they'll still spend their time on their phones, injecting heroin in their brains.
many adults are incapable of controlling that ... and we are expecting kids, that have little impulse control, to manage it ?
it's a good idea, but only a small part of the solution.
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@V_Mags_Fox @eniko Because only about 2/3rds of the area was like that.
Then there was a little stream, which was a tad swampy towards the back, but never deeper than about 20cm or so. Enough for a kid to get stuck in the mud, but not enough to sink. On the other side of the area, the stream was running fast, but only 2-3cm deep. Then it vanished into a tube, which came out in one of the neighbours' gardens.
(Of course we let boats go through the tube)
Beyond the stream was just a small...
@V_Mags_Fox @eniko ... meadow.
In my late teenagehood, they developed this part and put a total of five houses there.
So on the space of five houses, we had *all* the landscapes in the world. A meadow (great for BMX), a sandy shore, swamplands, a fast-flowing river, a rocky hill (didn't mention it; led up from the stream), and a huge jungle landscape with amazing climbing trees for all difficulty levels.
*Every* game could be played there.
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if you want kids to "go outside" instead of being on their devices how about you work to restore 3rd spaces for them instead of trying to ban them from social media
@eniko *calls cops on kids for crime of being young in a public space*
"Why do kids these days shut themselves indoors all the time?"
