Grandchildren's obsession with 'electronics'

I’ve just been corrected he writes ‘code’ oops!

SparklyGrandma
How true. My grandson wanted the Race19 gaming chair. He raised the money by selling games and other tech stuff he doesn't use. He was so pleased with himself.

Teddy is not allowed his clothes
I find the dolls stripped after DGD has been, always have to dress them again When it comes to the Sylvanian family I start to lose patience.

Not only the Grandchildren ! Their parents too !

They do come out the other end, DG 18 in three weeks has taken to coming round alone just to talk . Pot of coffee and we put the world to rights.She is so like her mum , GS 4years younger loves his tec but food comes first at Nan's. Part of his school work was Lord of the flies, had to brush up he wanted to talk about it. He has a vast knowledge of marine life , so we have always used tec as a learning tool

My 2 oldest DGC ( girls 14 and 12) are not really into technology (stuff) although they both have phones . They are absolutely horse mad and every spare minute of every day is spent at the local stables . The older girl rides for a breeder and has ambition to become a horse producer .

Their younger brother is 10 and he eats sleeps and breathes football . If he’s not playing, he’s training or brushing up on his skills and tricks . He does have an X box too ( where he plays football ) but much prefers the real thing .

My teenage GSs are still keen on their football/golf/tennis X-Box thing, specially in the winter when they can't be out after school. At least they are standing up and moving about.
More worrying is the way the elder one retreats to his room with his phone and watches You Tube till all hours. His parents have tried to insist that everyone's phone is downstairs charging in the kitchen, but he's a night bird and fetches his phone when the rest of the family is asleep.

If is any consolation they do grow out of it.
My elder 2 DGC were totally obsessed with their laptops until a few months ago when they started to get a bot bored & became human beings again. Of course they still use them but are more interested in 'being out with their mates' now,
The downside is that they are now too old to need to be looked after so come here less often. Their younger sister still needs supervision & is obsessed with her tablet 'talking' to her mates all the time,
Funnily enough the younger 3 by my other son do not tend to bring their gadgets with them - well not yet anyway!

The teenage DGS who, last summer was obsessed with his X-box, now has another interest: a girlfriend! Just wait! Their hormones will sort them out.

I often have my 12 year old niece on a Sunday if her mam is working, her idea of an awesome day is to curl up on my couch with her iPad and a blanket. She is top of her class at school is school captain and plays netball so i see no harm whatsoever in letting her veg, in fact i get my ipad and blanket and we spend the day chatting and playing games.
I also babysit my 2 year old great grandson every friday and he loves to curl up on grandmas knee and play his toddler games on my ipad. As you can possibly tell i am a lover of technology and i see no harm in it if you can still interact with them

GC nearly 10 is obsessed with computer games, particularly the F-r-n-g-t one. He watches so many YouTube instruction videos vouched by the most irritating American and some English youths that my GC is now speaking like they do when they are commanding other players on what to do in a game. I would say he is addicted. He has to be given "count downs" for when his allocated time is ending. 30mins, 15 mins, 10 mins then 5 and then a min until he has to switch off. He is never willing to do so, always creates a fuss. It's exhausting. My DS takes him to football practice, a bit of fishing, rick pooling, sail boarding and lots of other activities but its the screen time that causes mayhem nearly every day. Just do not know the answer.

It's a different world that we live in now to when we were youngsters. My grandchildren play on there i-pads and switches but they also play draughts, snakes and ladders, card games. One is seventeen and the other eleven. This only happens at my house. It's surprising how much they learn from google. We have plenty of interesting conversations.

I feel very strongly about this issue. I have 3 grandsons, two of them are now in their twenties and the youngest is 15. When I used to babysit the two older boys we played board games, they loved coming out with me on the DLR train or just enjoyed a bus ride to the local woods or park. The 15 year old has never wanted to do anything like this. He is only ever on his electronic devices, he considers everything else "boring", he continually plays games or watches U Tube. His parents have tried to get him interested in things (he joined scouts and seemed to like it but as soon as he got home his phone was turned on). During lock down they found it impossible to get him to do his on line lessons. If they left the room for a minute he was surreptitiously looking at his phone! I think it is a real problem for these children and I do worry about his future.

I think my daughter has the right idea and limits my grandson to one hour a day on computer but they go for walks most days and outings when they can, but of course not only grandchildren are on their gadgets AC are too

I have four granchildren, ages range from 16 to 21, my two Grahddaughters came with their parents yesterday, armed with their phones.They do put them down when spoken to, but are forever googling, whats this obsession with having to GOOGLE everything, cant peple think for themselves these days and discuss things istead of having direct answers via their phones, adults are as bad!

Technology is here to stay, like it or not but I feel today's grandchildren are missing so much. As grandparents perhaps we should make it our project to show them that there is a life without computer games and mobile phones. I had my 2 youngest grand-daughters one day last week as their parents were working. We spent the morning doing science experiments. Volcanoes, exploding bags, lava lamps, testing the parachutes and paper planes they made. They were both still alive by lunchtime despite not having had their techno fix.

Without the computers/tablets my GC would have been completely alone without other kids this Pandemic. Being online meant they could play games with their cousins, keep in touch with their other Nan who is on her own, do their work, and yes, sitting down for hours isn't good for anyone, so they would go and play in the garden when their parents said have a screen break...but times change...and the people with them.
It made me so happy when I would ring my daughter to hear the screams of laughter coming from my three youngest granchildren who were all online playing Roblox with their three cousins, all able to chat with one another and keep each other from going loopy!
They even got me into Roblox, I'm dreadful but chatting with them while I am mining for diamonds and then getting chased all over the place by them is actually a lot of fun! lol
I love seeing them being so social on their ipads and tablets, this doesn't stop them going outside when the weather is nice.
There has been so much bad press for those kids who play a lot of games or on devices, but there is a lot of good things to say about them too! x

Just to say yes, it has all been particularly trying in lockdown and the aftermath.

As an older mum I relaxed my rules regarding tech quite a bit especially during the times they weren't even allowed to meet their friends.

I hope school start goes well. I will be relieved as no mobiles allowed in school she goes to.

What the children are really, truly missing - is being bored. Out of boredom emerges imagination and creativity- and I am sure this has a strong effect on brain development.

When I see parents in restaurants on their phones, and the kids going wild- or taking their phones out too - I feel like walking over and snatching them away- from the parents first, of course. So sad.

If I opened a restaurant- it would be phone free- with everyone handing phone to put in safe on way in, to collect on way out.

Yes, Callistemon, I have this very stylish Giorgio Armani Teddy which GD has stripped of his clothes for the past 3 years! She is 4 now. I also have a teddy that is supposed to teach small children to button up, to belt up and velcro. She gets quite annoyed 'cause the clothes will not come off!!

I think DGD may be growing out of it at last.

I think today's children spend far tòo much time on phones, tablets and computers, and their parents are often just as bad, my own AC and GC included. Parents seem to use these devices (and TVs) like baby sitters, a way to keep them quiet so they can do something else. I think it's great that kids can do their school work on tablets and computers, but leisure activities on them should be monitored and limited.

One of our GC very rarely has a verbal conversation with us, just one word answers or nods of the head, his phone is always in his hand and he removes himself from the family group so he can play on it, even telling us to be quiet if our conversation or laughter is too loud. He has few friends and doesn't really like outdoor activities, except the beach, but even there he plays on his phone! Two other GC (not yet teens) already wear glasses because they spend so much time on brightly lit electronic devices. As others have said, I too read a lot as a child, but I don't think it damaged my eyesight or made me unsociable.

this seems to be the norm now, i certainly would not want to be without a mobile, they are such an asset but, they certainly get abused, the clever the phone then the more there is to do on them. i dont know what the answer is though, i really dont

The kids around here are out playing everyday. There’s a tree across a small road that has 3 rope swings. They also ride bikes and make up games. I’m not on a modern estate where it’s safe but there’s houses around. It is safe if they’re sensible and in a group and so good for them and to see.

Ours know that there is no electronic gadget at Nan's and Pappy's. Well there are, but we do not put them out. The TV is also off. They do spend enough time on gadgets and watching TV at home. They should be proficient in the use of these, it is their world, but when we mind them, they develop other skills. Playdough, toys, lego, duplo, train sets, paints. A balance is needed. We try to provide it.