Honestly, in the same situation as that kid, I would have been reading a book. Now, while I'd classify books as better for kids than videogames, it's still not running through the woods and playing. Some kids just don't enjoy that kind of stuff.

On the whole, it is a disturbing trend. I think the problem is that adults are of the mindset that "the world is changing - parenting is different, now!"

The truth is, the job of parent is always the same... it's just that the tools have changed. You still have to pay attention to your kids, encourage their dreams, love them, and for everyone's sake DISCIPLINE them.

That will never ever change.

For some reason, a lot of people think it has...

Great article, as always.

And can I say that I'm amazed that you could be old enough to have a kid going off to college... it just doesn't seem possible.

Edited to add: I had no idea what "rusty trombone" meant... it's on Wikipedia. I'm scarred for life.

I'm old enough to have spent my time reading as a kid rather than videogaming.

My housemates fit Will's story perfectly however. They never intended to have kids, but when the female half became pregnant they kept the baby and married. The kid is 3 now, smart as a whip, but spends most of his time -- day or night -- glued to the TV watching Disney channel, Little Einsteins, or the goddamn Wiggles while his parents play EverQuest2.

I could go on a helluva rant about the various ills of their child-rearing tactic, but suffice to say I worry about that kid's future and his ability to socialize.

-TTm

I dont have a tv. I have lived without tv for 2 years. I however do have a projector and can suck down the juice at work. I never look at the computer at home (I have a laptop that I leave at work most days) and in the past 6 months I've felt like watching tv once.. .when I was home feeling very hungover and hadnt brought my pc home (ie I was too hungover to read or do anything except lie there and pathetically moan)

I am the happiest person I know.

I would like to have children but I would raise them with no tv... and really... I'm pretty much marking them for life even though I would send them to hippy schools.. so I might just have to luck out on the whole kid thing all together. This world is too wacky and I think it should be bred out.

Im a huge fan of back wood camping and can see bringing an MP3 player but laptops, gaming systems, DVD players etc is just friggin ridiculous. It defeats the whole point of getting away from the so called "comforts of home" that tend to suck us in and control our lives.
As for our society and youth of today, I feel sorry for them because they are missing the world that is outside of their window. And no amount of watching Planet Earth on the discovery channel will make up for that.

I don't get it at all. When I was younger, I played outside all day until I was forced to come inside, and I had nintendo and cable and all that good stuff. I just never really cared for it. I remember a friend of mine, whenever I went to his house I'd always end up playing outside with his little brother, 'cause he'd just sit and watch TV the entire time. I just don't get the attraction, but there are so many different types of people. I dunno what the point of all that was, but thought I'd share.

ALSO: I heard somewhere that some engineering schools (I heard Harvard) nowadays are requiring a "Lego Class," because students are starting to have a less developed appreciation of 3D due to too much TV and video games. Can anyone verify this?

I dunno. I have serious issues with a lot of parents today, and I definitely think the type of parent being described are among the main offenders....but that particular example doesn't bother me. I was thoroughly antisocial as a child and as apesamongus said, I'd have been the one with a book. (I didn't have a computer until junior high, didn't have consoles until I could afford my own in the last year or so of high school. Didn't have a handheld until college.) I mean, admittedly, when camping I would have been spending most of my time off hiking with my parents, but any downtime was reading time. Still is, when I'm out and about. As long as the parents are involved in their child's life and helping them make good decisions for later life, I don't really care how media-obsessed the kid is, y'know?

Children's TV these days really sucks, though. Yick.

my girlfriend and i were just discussing that car commercial the other day. i'm glad i'm not the only one who sees the inherent problem with it.

Good plan! Kids can smell my fear so I should start carrying around a DVD player right now!

I wouldn't say that being homeschooled and taught mythology (creationism) instead of science and history is a bad thing. My wife is/was one of those weirdos and she turned out just fine, so did her 2 sisters and 1 brother. Granted, there are exceptions to every rule.

but about technology, I recently went backpacking with some friends, it was a short trip, only about twelve miles over 2 days. one of the guys brought a PSP. But I couldn't believe it, dude couldn't go without video games for 2 days! I missed my gears of war, lost planet, oblivion, battlefield2142 and counterstrike-source as much as the next guy, but you didn't see me bringing my laptop out there with me so I could play, did you? Granted brought my ipod along, but I think I am right when I say that the Ipod is ok to bring, because it's just music.

I think when we (my wife and I) have kids, we will have strict rules governing videogames, like mommy and daddy get to play first and if we feel like it, Jr. can play when we are done.

Seriously, I thought the same thing. I haven't said anything to any one, 'cause I thought I was overreacting. It's good to know I'm not the only one.

I am suddenly wildly proud of my parents for all the times they said "put the damned GameBoy and headphones away."

As much as I love gaming, my computer and all that technology encompasses, I love getting away from it all. I also prefer to read lots of books to pass time, and hopefully if I have kids one day I can pass my love for reading on to them, because I agree parents are using technology to replace parenting.

One of my favorite times in my entire life is when I worked on an archeology project in Mexico. Why? Because my cell phone didn't work, no technology at all except what was associated with the project, and in my off time I just got to enjoy the weather and read a book. Luddite here.

I have to say this has been my fav. thing I've read on here yet. I don't know how many times I goes places in general and see parents not being parents. I think some of it stems from parents in this day in age are to scared to use a little ass wooping on the kid when they act out. I know if I acted the way kids do today when I was their age I got my butt slapped. It always embarassed me to. And what did I learn? Act up and get my butt spanked. With parents to scared to dissapline their kids they just give them what they want. Anything to keep them shut up for five minutes. It has truely become a sad world we live in. Thanks for the great read Wil.