I'm not a parent. But I have noticed that kids who primarily spend time on screens have a much lower level of physical ability. For example, I've never been particularly active until recently, but as a kid I spend as much time running around and playing as I did with video games. And I can see a big difference between things like my hand-eye coordination and some teenagers I've met who've only really played video games. And I'm talking about activities I SUCK at!
You bring up a good point, or at least a key difference when we talk about things like hand-eye coordination. There are some studies that show things like hand-eye coordination can be good in video game players. But that’s hand-eye coordination on a 2D plane.
Your hand-eye coordination while catching a ball has you calculating so much more because of that third dimension. I’m sure there’s an actual term for it, but something to keep in mind when headlines say that video games improve hand-eye coordination.
Now this will have me going down another rabbit hole searching for papers…lol
As a lifelong gamer and not a life-long sports player, I can clearly see the difference between myself and more physically active people who play very few games (like my wife).
Honestly, I think it's a minor truth blown out of proportion by eager game marketers. No game is ever as good for coordination as just catching or hitting a ball (unless it's VR), and I've noticed that top esports players tend to also do physical sports. I think there's something to that.
I currently work in a Floortime model school which focuses on building and maintaining developmental capacities. We work to help foster capacities 1-9 which ranges from shared attention all the way to gray area and abstract thought. I think a strong foundation in creating emotional ideas and logical thinking coupled with a strong parental relationship is probably the best time. Even some reflective thinking is important as well (typically emerges around age 9).
Agreeing with your last point, a parent or caregiver who is actively involved in the play rather than using the screen as a distraction also plays a huge role as well.
I’m in a unique intersection in the field of EdTech and special needs where I teach Game Design and development to neurodiverse students and this topic comes up a lot. Mainly in the aspect of “when is a student ready for screen time?” I think it lies more within the developmental range rather than an age range. But I think there’s also another aspect to screen time in that is the parent or teacher more important than the screen?
For sure, developmental age is probably the better way to frame the results of this study. I didn’t mention it in my post, but the authors did look specifically at neurotypical children. Were there key developmental milestones that you think could be used as a guideline for when it might be a good time?
And yes, the other aspect of this is the human adult in the loop. I’ve read some studies that say screen use doesn’t really affect the amount of time parents/caregivers spend reading to children, so at least in those cases, the adult is important.
My guess is that an involved parent/caregiver in tablet game use would be just as fruitful as that same adult-child pair playing with a physical toy. I guess it all comes down to how we are interacting or letting kids/students interact with this kind of technology.
I'm not a parent. But I have noticed that kids who primarily spend time on screens have a much lower level of physical ability. For example, I've never been particularly active until recently, but as a kid I spend as much time running around and playing as I did with video games. And I can see a big difference between things like my hand-eye coordination and some teenagers I've met who've only really played video games. And I'm talking about activities I SUCK at!
You bring up a good point, or at least a key difference when we talk about things like hand-eye coordination. There are some studies that show things like hand-eye coordination can be good in video game players. But that’s hand-eye coordination on a 2D plane.
Your hand-eye coordination while catching a ball has you calculating so much more because of that third dimension. I’m sure there’s an actual term for it, but something to keep in mind when headlines say that video games improve hand-eye coordination.
Now this will have me going down another rabbit hole searching for papers…lol
As a lifelong gamer and not a life-long sports player, I can clearly see the difference between myself and more physically active people who play very few games (like my wife).
Honestly, I think it's a minor truth blown out of proportion by eager game marketers. No game is ever as good for coordination as just catching or hitting a ball (unless it's VR), and I've noticed that top esports players tend to also do physical sports. I think there's something to that.
I currently work in a Floortime model school which focuses on building and maintaining developmental capacities. We work to help foster capacities 1-9 which ranges from shared attention all the way to gray area and abstract thought. I think a strong foundation in creating emotional ideas and logical thinking coupled with a strong parental relationship is probably the best time. Even some reflective thinking is important as well (typically emerges around age 9).
Agreeing with your last point, a parent or caregiver who is actively involved in the play rather than using the screen as a distraction also plays a huge role as well.
I’m in a unique intersection in the field of EdTech and special needs where I teach Game Design and development to neurodiverse students and this topic comes up a lot. Mainly in the aspect of “when is a student ready for screen time?” I think it lies more within the developmental range rather than an age range. But I think there’s also another aspect to screen time in that is the parent or teacher more important than the screen?
For sure, developmental age is probably the better way to frame the results of this study. I didn’t mention it in my post, but the authors did look specifically at neurotypical children. Were there key developmental milestones that you think could be used as a guideline for when it might be a good time?
And yes, the other aspect of this is the human adult in the loop. I’ve read some studies that say screen use doesn’t really affect the amount of time parents/caregivers spend reading to children, so at least in those cases, the adult is important.
My guess is that an involved parent/caregiver in tablet game use would be just as fruitful as that same adult-child pair playing with a physical toy. I guess it all comes down to how we are interacting or letting kids/students interact with this kind of technology.