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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@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?" -
@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.
@pizzadoesntexist@mastodon.social imagine you could regulate the Heroin away by legally banning predatory ads, timeline algorithms and dark patterns. Because these big companies are actually legal entities and not a rando drug dealer.
And that would also help the adults.
@eniko@mastodon.gamedev.place -
@pizzadoesntexist@mastodon.social imagine you could regulate the Heroin away by legally banning predatory ads, timeline algorithms and dark patterns. Because these big companies are actually legal entities and not a rando drug dealer.
And that would also help the adults.
@eniko@mastodon.gamedev.place@helpsterTee @eniko yeah, that's a big part of the solution. though that's never gonna happen.
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@helpsterTee @eniko i don't think we have any control over this. when they really want something to happen, it happens. just have to accept it.
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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 or even make outside safe to exist, without a bunch of people needing to steal from one another
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@weirdfoodie @eniko probably this guy, he's got a nice car: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Flintstone
@brunogirin @eniko Yabba dabba doooooo!!!
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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 Also as an adult. *cough* How about "leading" by example?
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@helpsterTee @eniko i don't think we have any control over this. when they really want something to happen, it happens. just have to accept it.
@pizzadoesntexist@mastodon.social
US: no clue, maybe
EU: we still have courts left that do work for us
If they go through with it anyways, there are enough people who will call out their bullshit and we need to amplify that into offline spaces. Happened in the past, will happen again.
That's why she still has that nickname
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZugangserschwerungsgesetzFrom the start, the project was the subject of intense political debate, in which the family minister gained the iconic nickname Zensursula – a portmanteau of the German word Zensur for “censorship” and her first name Ursula.
Yah, well, we'll see...
@eniko@mastodon.gamedev.place -
@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.
Kids weren't going outside 30 years ago, either. I know they weren't because I was a kid outside 30 years ago and it was DESERTED out there. I almost never saw another soul, aside from people in cars.
Social media companies didn't do this. Social media companies didn't EXIST when this happened.
And I must add that I find it deeply disturbing that I'm seemingly the only one who remembers his own childhood. What the hell happened to the rest of you?
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@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?"And it is a crime. It is illegal in many jurisdictions for children to be outside.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-range_parenting
Parents and politicians don't want kids outside. Parents and politicians want kids to not speak to anyone ever. It's right there in the laws they write and cheer for—content posted by minor users of social media sites is not to be visible to anyone.
It's sick. This whole world is sick. And I don't mean the kids; I mean the adults.
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Kids weren't going outside 30 years ago, either. I know they weren't because I was a kid outside 30 years ago and it was DESERTED out there. I almost never saw another soul, aside from people in cars.
Social media companies didn't do this. Social media companies didn't EXIST when this happened.
And I must add that I find it deeply disturbing that I'm seemingly the only one who remembers his own childhood. What the hell happened to the rest of you?
@argv_minus_one @eniko
maybe where you lived. Where I lived there were swarms of us outside in all weather getting into all sorts of nonsense. So, sorry you personally didn't play with friends outside because you lived where there were no other kids around, but it definitely was extremely typical in my childhood. -
@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.
Also, parents don't have time! Parents have to work 40 hours a day to keep a roof over their heads!
If kids can't do things by themselves, they can't do things at all. The only thing they're legally allowed to do right now is stare at their phones…and now the government is taking that away, too.
Society is sick in the head. I am terrified of where this is going.
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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
Adults getting off their own devices and going outside and interacting with other people, finding interesting/creative/sociable hobbies might also help encourage youngsters to get off their devices.
So many adults are addicted too
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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 These are two different issues. “Third spaces” have nothing inherently to do with laws restricting minors’ access to online information. And computers aren’t the 1990s TV: they can be places for learning, creating, researching, programming and socializing. “Go outside” isn’t a policy argument.
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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 also the solution to toxic systems can't be to "keep kids away from them until they are of age", it needs to be improving the systems to not be f*cking toxic for anyone
