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If I were a parent...
Thereo s something sad about this.
Ito s Friday morning. Before leaving for work, I ask my daughter, whoo s 10, o Are you going to be alright by yourself?o
o Yes,o she grunts, eyes fixed on her $800 laptop.
Is she doing anything today? She pays me little attention, and the response is similarly vague. I suppose things only o get doneo in the real world. And now, the real world is virtual and pixelated.
o Can I use your iPad?o she calls. Does she need 2 screens? Apparently. Io m sure her finger is already hovering over the o slide to unlocko feature, waiting for my assent. I couldno t keep her off it even if I tried.
As I say goodbye, I imagine her spending another day watching YouTube videos of other people playing Minecraft while placing blocks in o creative modeo at the same time. Io m sure sheo ll build another wooden house with a garden. But today, ito ll have a swimming pool and probably a library.
Her world will be blissfully threat-free until she switches over to o survival mode,o when the zombies and creepers will appear after sunset. o There are also giant spiders,o she told me once.
To get inspiration, sheo ll watch SkyDoesMinecraft, CaptainSparklez, and other YouTubers who Io m terrified might drop the F-bomb and the M-F bomb on a regular basis. o Choose another video please,o I sometimes call from the other room upon hearing drunken torrents of verbal diarrhea blaring out of her speakers. From what I've heard, not many of these o internet starso seem to have a clue that they can easily be accessed and watched by a bunch of third-graders.
Io d even prefer her to be subjected to the adult stereotypes, cynicism and backstabbing behavior found in sitcoms on Nickelodeon on Disney. If she learnt any lessons from those, theyo d be easier to curb than the bad language she picks up from the internet. But she hasno t watched one of those shows for ages. In this day and age, they probably dono t even make them any more. And I cano t force a child to watch TV anyway.
o Video games may have ruined my life,o she once told me. o But ito s a good thing I have two extra lives.o I didno t get this joke, and was quite concerned, until she reminded me of the little row of hearts you have on your screen in a video game. I still dono t know if I should be worried. But still, she tells jokes. She can still laugh (or o lolo ) without a screen in front of her, thankfully. Thato s something.
But if Minecraft really is o ruining her lifeo , it cano t go on. At least with lego, she wasno t damaging her eyes by staring at a screen all day. At least with that game, she would bring her friends round to play, and they would socialize, and have fun, the way it should be. Where did lego go? Where did Disney and Nickeodeon and the local play park go?
Thereo s something sad about this.
There's a message behind this blog.
Note: not all of the views expressed in this blog are necessarily my own.
Thereo s something sad about this.
Ito s Friday morning. Before leaving for work, I ask my daughter, whoo s 10, o Are you going to be alright by yourself?o
o Yes,o she grunts, eyes fixed on her $800 laptop.
Is she doing anything today? She pays me little attention, and the response is similarly vague. I suppose things only o get doneo in the real world. And now, the real world is virtual and pixelated.
o Can I use your iPad?o she calls. Does she need 2 screens? Apparently. Io m sure her finger is already hovering over the o slide to unlocko feature, waiting for my assent. I couldno t keep her off it even if I tried.
As I say goodbye, I imagine her spending another day watching YouTube videos of other people playing Minecraft while placing blocks in o creative modeo at the same time. Io m sure sheo ll build another wooden house with a garden. But today, ito ll have a swimming pool and probably a library.
Her world will be blissfully threat-free until she switches over to o survival mode,o when the zombies and creepers will appear after sunset. o There are also giant spiders,o she told me once.
To get inspiration, sheo ll watch SkyDoesMinecraft, CaptainSparklez, and other YouTubers who Io m terrified might drop the F-bomb and the M-F bomb on a regular basis. o Choose another video please,o I sometimes call from the other room upon hearing drunken torrents of verbal diarrhea blaring out of her speakers. From what I've heard, not many of these o internet starso seem to have a clue that they can easily be accessed and watched by a bunch of third-graders.
Io d even prefer her to be subjected to the adult stereotypes, cynicism and backstabbing behavior found in sitcoms on Nickelodeon on Disney. If she learnt any lessons from those, theyo d be easier to curb than the bad language she picks up from the internet. But she hasno t watched one of those shows for ages. In this day and age, they probably dono t even make them any more. And I cano t force a child to watch TV anyway.
o Video games may have ruined my life,o she once told me. o But ito s a good thing I have two extra lives.o I didno t get this joke, and was quite concerned, until she reminded me of the little row of hearts you have on your screen in a video game. I still dono t know if I should be worried. But still, she tells jokes. She can still laugh (or o lolo ) without a screen in front of her, thankfully. Thato s something.
But if Minecraft really is o ruining her lifeo , it cano t go on. At least with lego, she wasno t damaging her eyes by staring at a screen all day. At least with that game, she would bring her friends round to play, and they would socialize, and have fun, the way it should be. Where did lego go? Where did Disney and Nickeodeon and the local play park go?
Thereo s something sad about this.
There's a message behind this blog.
Note: not all of the views expressed in this blog are necessarily my own.
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Yeaahhhhh im not very productive.
Diamond, Fav and Sub, you deserve it man.