Grandchildren's obsession with 'electronics'

Totally agree but not only GC - AC too and that is sooooo frustrating!

My grandsons like coming here because I'm equally into my gadgets

However we do go to our local woods to walk the dog

I also got the youngest interested in real jigsaws!

I insist they are put aside sometimes otherwise you never get to talk to them. They groan a bit but are used to it now. They enjoy playing guess the famous person but pick sports people to thwart me!

Mine spend a lot of time outdoors ,but they live in a small village and are 100 yards from the beach .They do spend time on techy stuff as well and to be honest as they need it for school work now its best they can be competent on it.

I dont have any problems with them ,they all like a chat the 3 girls love to bake and cook ,the 17 year old has a part time job and a girlfriend but he msgs me online at least a couple of days a week.Im just happy they are happy
.The days of playing chases on the street are gone and we need to realise it and support them and their interests .the same as we did with our own children .Times change .

Thank you ..... it's bitter/sweet what I am going to say next .... I am glad others think the same as myself (( I don't mean that in a nasty way ))

I will just add another grrrrrrrrrr for good measure.....

I haven’t faced that yet with any of my GC, not even the 10yo. Try getting an answer out of him when he’s immersed in a book, though!

The others are all physically very active and don’t sit still for long enough. It’s exhausting just watching them, I’d love their energy.

I don’t see it as any different to when I sat with a book on my knee morning noon and night and then went to bed with radio Luxembourg on my tranny under the bed covers

I think asking them to ‘ put them down and find something else to do’ won’t help. If you provide options, preferably something you’re involved in with them, rather than amusing themselves, you may get a better experience for all of you.

That is very very true BlueBell .... hahahaha and I will say "snap".

Yes, when they are with me I get the baking things out, they love the end product, I would take them on walks because we live in Yorkshire and are surrounded by perfect upon PERFECT places, but i have MS and cant walk as far as i would absolutely love to walk.

It's not so much I'm struggling for things to 'entertain' them, it's more a point of worrying that all this obsession with electronics is going to cause harm..... i.e interacting... BUT as BlueBell said, I suppose it's only the same as when our heads were immersed in a book, it's just me, worrying ....

Oddly enough this was in my mind earlier when my two grandsons were round at my house. I will have them all day on Tuesday and didn’t relish the idea of them sitting plugged into their machines all day,

I set them the task of finding a board game or something that they might enjoy and which would keep them off their screen for a couple of hours.

They googled and searched. Looked at possibilities. I showed them how to look at star ratings and read reviews. Showed them to check who was a verified buyer on Amazon, etc. I know this was still using tablets but it wasn’t one of those mindless (IMO) games they are addicted to.

Anyway after a good hour or more of research they chose a board game and a Lego construction and ordered them on my account. Hopefully that will occupy them for part of Tuesday.

My eldest son is only 6.
But I have already found the struggle of balancing the new times, the fear of missing out with peers and the addiction that devices bring.

For a while we went cold turkey. Absolutely nothing apart from the TV. It meant that the obsession died down and they had to learn to use their imaginations and entertain themselves.

We have now bought the Nintendo Switch and it’s been amazing for family games and everyone can join even my 4 year old.

I dread to think what things will be like in another few years I doubt they will be so easily negotiated with.

I don't see a problem with it, that's just how the world works now. When I was young if I wanted to talk to my friends I had to do it within a few feet of the phone, in the living room annoying everyone else.

Or just sitting somewhere in the village or the next town chatting to friends, rarely actually doing much.

I would sit and read for hours and hours and would be gone with the fairies... No one ever minded.

Why does it matter where I sit and chat to friends or whether I read on a device or on paper?

If you want them to be more active, plan activities. Go for walks or teach them to bake.

I was chucked out as a kid from morning till evening and I wasn't playing and having adventures 90% of the time. I was bored or cold or hungry or lonely. I was even almost kidnapped once and if I'd had an accident out in a field somewhere, who'd have known?

I don't know why everyone romanticises pre technology childhoods. Like everything there are positives and negatives. They have just changed that's all.

The one I can’t bear is I pads/phones at the table in a cafe or restaurant. If the can’t learn how to sit and chat in my view they shouldn’t be taken to eat out,

unfortunately, the parents are often the first on their phones at the table!

Another one for gggrrrr. And it seems it truly affects how their brain works, and not for the better.

I was discussing this with my almost 12 year old grandson at lunchtime. His parents are fairly strict about sensible limits on screen time and he can articulate the problem from both sides. He understands that they are concerned about the things he might miss out on doing while on his X box for example, but could argue his case that he spends lots of time outdoors and does a lot of sport. He correctly pointed out that playing video games does actually improve hand eye coordination. And I enjoyed telling him what it was like when we got our very first family computer when his Mum was in her early teens - we all fought for screen time ( me included) and had to have a rota for using it.

Mine spend a lot of time outdoors ,but they live in a small village and are 100 yards from the beach .They do spend time on techy stuff as well and to be honest as they need it for school work now its best they can be competent on it.

Ditto, apart from the fact that there is no beach nearby.

We played a card game yesterday and DGD thrashed us old grannies!

I would sit and read for hours and hours and would be gone with the fairies... No one ever minded.

I would do that too but would be told to get my nose out of that book and go out and get some fresh air, especially when the weather was good.

So the same, really, as getting off that phone!

Does anyone remember Kirstie Allsopp smashing her sons’ ipads out of sheer frustration at their reluctance to go outside?

I know it was a dreadful waste of money and not a good example to set butI bet many parents (and grandparents) cheered her on.

I seem to remember she had confiscated the devices but her boys found them and she just flipped!

I suppose the answer is to decide on how long to allow for screen time and then they have to be put away.

As others have said it’s all about providing something else to do which is fun.

The problem is I haven’t seen any scientific evidence that reading a book can have lasting negative affects on a person.

I know a couple of people who do have to keep strict tabs on their sons’ use of tech. It seems to turn them into alien beings, causing anger issues and a tendency to violence if he can’t have his own way with screens, in one case.

When I have my GC with me and they want a film on the ipad they can but only in English not their mother tongue. However, recently I listened in to the four-year choice, which he was happily watching, only the discover it was in German.

It might interest those of you who are concerned about this to listen to a programme that was on Radio 4 this week:
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000lzjp

It’s about a child, whose parents have limited his screen time, investigating the science behind his parents’ concerns.

I thought the Kirsty Alsop paddy was awful and a dreadful example to set her children
Children can learn as much from their phones as I did from going to the library
Why is a board game different to an electronic game ?? Many of which can be played with other children albeit not in the Same room/house
I think you just have to move with the tines and stop concerning yourself with this

The one thing I don’t agree with is very young children having them A) they are too expensive and easily broken b) Real life interaction is important for young children but 10 onwards is surely fine

geeksse

The link was very interesting about Roman...
Puts a different take on everything.

It's good to put our worries 'out there', we think we are the only ones going through X, Y & Z.

Thank you everyone for your posts, its helped a LOT ....

Enjoy your day...