The lack of kids playing outside

[John Cooper]

@Dan The Video Man here you go!!!

Kid's need to put down the phone, turn of the tablet, TV, Video games and get outside and breathe the fresh air, get dirt on their feet and heck maybe eat some too..........

As the Buggles said "Video killed the Radio song".........

Have fun!!

 

[Dan The Video Man]

Totally!! I’ve got 2 kids, 8 & 12. TV is heavily regulated in my house. No iPads and occasionally video games. I like video games myself but I’m not on it all the time and I prefer to older PS games that have been re-done for the PS5.

When I was a kid you bet your ass if we weren’t in school we were playing outside, riding our bikes all over town, exploring the woods, etc. I make my kids go outside as much as possible weather permitting of course and I’m either out there playing with them myself or doing work in the garage, on the vehicles, or in the yard.

I think it’s un fortunate because when I was a kid (born in ‘85) sitting around and watching TV or playing video games wasn’t even an option. Shows for kids were only on Saturday morning and if you missed it, too bad! If we were sitting in front of a video game all day, we would’ve got the wooden spoon and kicked out of the house until dinner.

Now, we did have a family tradition where we’d all gather in the family room on Sunday evening to watch the amazing block of TV that was The Simpsons, King of the Hill and X-files, but that’s a family experience that I’d compare to all of going to see a movie together.

 

[bbaldwin237]

I'll add that even adults need to put the phones down, step away from the TV, and get outside!

Our son is only 3.5 right now, but we have a strict screen time rule. He only gets 30 minutes of screen time per day, and he doesn't even do that every day. We can tell a major behavior difference if he is getting too much. But we're not big TV watchers ourselves. My wife and I will maybe watch one episode of a show (20-30 minutes) after he goes to bed and only an average of 1-2 times per week. Many weeks 0 times. Of course, we both work with computers and/or phones all day.

Our son has no tablet (and won't have) but he's got some awesome toys and outside play equipment that I would've loved as a kid! When he's bored he wants to play games, dance, play outside, read stories, listen to stories, or asks to go Jeeping when we have time together. He never hesitates to help outside and will go get his version of whatever we're doing (mower, chainsaw, bike, wheelbarrow, shovel, etc). My wife is an early elementary teacher and has put in a lot of effort to seek out education on screen time, outdoor play, and face-to-face interaction.

The only child we can control is the one that we are raising, but we are determined to raise a functional adult! My wife also makes an effort to share knowledge and research with families to help them understand. Honestly, so many people just don't realize the issue because they've never been told. But we always try to believe that most parents are the doing the best that they can based on the knowledge and resources that they have.

 

[Chris]

Everyone needs to put down the phooooooone and go outside. Exercise and being out in nature is a cure for just about everything.

 

[Dan The Video Man]

I'm right there with you with adults being on their phones too much. Everywhere you go everyone has their damn face in their damn phone as their walking then they get mad when they almost run into because I'm in their way. No, you weren't paying attention to where you were going. I see this all the time at restaurants too when I'm there. 2-5 people at a table and each one of them are staring at their phones not talking to each other, all in their own little world. I make it a point to not be on my phone very much in general but especially if I'm out to eat with my wife or a group of people. If you're out with a group, I assume your intent is to socialize sooo why aren't you doing that?!

 

[KennethS]

There's an elementary school near the entrance to our neighborhood. When we moved there 20 years ago the 'bike corral" was full of bikes. I have noticed recently there are maybe 4 or 5 bikes maximum. So these days kids aren't even riding their bikes to school, they are getting dropped off by mom and dad.

 

[NDSpeed]

I'm right there with you with adults being on their phones too much. Everywhere you go everyone has their damn face in their damn phone as their walking then they get mad when they almost run into because I'm in their way. No, you weren't paying attention to where you were going. I see this all the time at restaurants too when I'm there. 2-5 people at a table and each one of them are staring at their phones not talking to each other, all in their own little world. I make it a point to not be on my phone very much in general but especially if I'm out to eat with my wife or a group of people. If you're out with a group, I assume your intent is to socialize sooo why aren't you doing that?!

Rule in my house, who ever pulls out their phone pays the bill.

My daughter wasnt happy when she got a $150 bill.

 

[John Cooper]

We have a rule that no phones allowed and they must be turned off, only 2 exceptions, well one now, our youngest daughter's husband is on call 24/7 365, he gets a pass on turning his off, I used to be that same way and couldn't turn mine off.

 

[tworley]

 

[red02tj]

This year my kids schools implemented phone bans. Kids who take the bus or have after school activities can check it in at the office, otherwise, if it’s seen on campus it’s immediately confiscation and detention. Now on the way to school they can sulk and stare out the window like we used to.

 

[chili_pepper]

This year my kids schools implemented phone bans. Kids who take the bus or have after school activities can check it in at the office, otherwise, if it’s seen on campus it’s immediately confiscation and detention. Now on the way to school they can sulk and stare out the window like we used to.

100% support this country-wide.

 

[TJ Jim]

Social media. The downfall of our world. Except for wrangler forum. It’s educational

 

[speeding_infraction]

100% support this country-wide.

Same.

 

[Zorba]

100% support this country-wide.

With the addition of "Seen on campus, its tossed in the wood chipper.

 

[Zorba]

Social media. The downfall of our world. Except for wrangler forum. It’s educational

And forms are not "social media". Forums have been around long before that stupid term was invented.

 

[Chris]

And forms are not "social media". Forums have been around long before that stupid term was invented.

With forums it's always been about the subject (i.e. cars, camping, boats, etc.). With social media as we know it today the "subject" is yourself. That breeds narcissism. Narcissism breeds nastiness.

All roads lead to narcissism.

 

[Zorba]

With forums it's always been about the subject (i.e. cars, camping, boats, etc.). With social media as we know it today the "subject" is yourself. That breeds narcissism. Narcissism breeds nastiness.

All roads lead to narcissism.

Never mind the algorithms, data mining and targeted ads. I'm a computer geek - I don't tolerate ads, and I basically never see them.

I guess the "self subject" was why I never saw the point of "social media" - it just didn't make sense to my Aspie brain. I got a friggin' website that's all about me, people have to seek it out. Better yet, links from facesuck are blocked - you cannot link to my site from there. Its amusing to see people's reactions in my server logs. Most just go away and never come back. Smarter ones will input the URL directly and carry on. Slightly dumber ones will go to google, input the URL there and come in that way. Many will then go to my home page, attempt to find what they're looking for (Almost ALWAYS the sewing machine pages), can't find it and go away or occasionally have the brains to go to the site map. From time to time there will be someone who hits the facesuck link several times like they just can't believe it, getting rejected every time!

 

[Chris]

Never mind the algorithms, data mining and targeted ads. I'm a computer geek - I don't tolerate ads, and I basically never see them.

I guess the "self subject" was why I never saw the point of "social media" - it just didn't make sense to my Aspie brain. I got a friggin' website that's all about me, people have to seek it out. Better yet, links from facesuck are blocked - you cannot link to my site from there. Its amusing to see people's reactions in my server logs. Most just go away and never come back. Smarter ones will input the URL directly and carry on. Slightly dumber ones will go to google, input the URL there and come in that way. Many will then go to my home page, attempt to find what they're looking for (Almost ALWAYS the sewing machine pages), can't find it and go away or occasionally have the brains to go to the site map. From time to time there will be someone who hits the facesuck link several times like they just can't believe it, getting rejected every time!

The worst thing about Facesuck is Mark Zuckerberg. I know that it's pretty much impossible to not be giving your time / money in some way or another to evil corporations. We boycott Target, Disney, and a few others, but the biggest is Facebook! I can't for the life of me understand why anyone still uses it especially after we found out about all the privacy issues.

 

[Zorba]

The worst thing about Facesuck is Mark Zuckerberg. I know that it's pretty much impossible to not be giving your time / money in some way or another to evil corporations. We boycott Target, Disney, and a few others, but the biggest is Facebook! I can't for the life of me understand why anyone still uses it.

I never saw the point of the thing in the first place, just like I never saw the point of MySpace which preceded it. I was on Tribe a bit - that preceded MySpace - and didn't really like it or see much point in that either. Geocities was kind of cool, that was basically a "set up your own website without having to register a domain" kind of thing. But you're not wrong, Zuckercrook needs to be avoided like the plague. Everybody just LOVES to use "What's up". Not only is that yet another Zuckercrook thing, but its also pointless. Its PHOOOOOONNE only, it doesn't really do anything that can't be done with email or even texting for that matter.

 

[thedustyboot]

I'm 29 and married and will probably be having kids at some point in the new year. I'm very scared about what tech will look like in the next few years. As I came up through school cell phones slowly became more popular. There was endless bullying through those early social media sites, kids who didn't have their own phones (like myself) got bullied or shunned, it was a mess.. Nowadays, the amount of filth and unfiltered content that pops up on my phone is shocking. It's so in your face all the time. So my fear is not being able to adequately protect my future kids from seeing something they shouldn't.

When I was a youngster, I had metal Tonka trucks and a massive pile of dirt (roughly 30,000 cubic ft) to play on. Someday I would love to have a big pile of dirt for my own kids, although it might have to be a bit smaller.