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Comment by dugluak | Hacker News Reader

But what do kids do during winter when you really can't get out of the house that often? I didn't grow up in a region where winters are so severe that you can't get out of the house and play but I am raising kids who are in a region where winters are severe and I have no idea what to do other than letting them play inside with screens.

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Books, board games, indoor sports?

How severe are the winters where you live? I've never been anywhere where you couldn't go out with proper clothing.

proper clothing is fine, but it gets dark in couple of hours after their school ends and by the time I get home which is around 6PM, so 5 out of 7 days a week just go by like that.

And I don't see much difference between books/ board games and screen time (except allowing them to browse youtube etc)

For me personally the difference between screen time and books or board games is the prolonged focus on one thing. When online, I tend to jump through articles, scroll through feeds and switch focus much more rapidbly than during offline activities.

I’d also say the problem with hypermedia is that the production values allow someone else’s vision to swamp out your own imagination and creativity. If you’re reading a static book, you have to visualize your own world. With digital works you can get the full sensory experience. You don’t need to use your creativity as much.

It’s as if all of the movies are using special effects drenched in CGI all of the time.

The time it takes to switch focus during offline activities is much higher. I can guarantee if it took you 5-10 minutes to switch websites, you'd be a lot more fixated on one thing at a time...

You can't alt+tab on real life activities very easily (generally).

I grew up in a cold winter area before the modern age of technology and we found plenty of ways to occupy our time. For one, we still spent a lot of time outside! I remember fondly many winter weekends and evenings as a kid building snowmen, sledding, ice skating, having snowball fights with neighbors, etc. As an adult we (myself included) tend to view snow and ice as an obstacle - something to be looked at but not interacted with. I most certainly did not feel that way as a teenager.

There are plenty of other non-screen indoor activities. Games, books, being involved cooking dinner and doing chores, homework, etc.

I think some screen time is ok, there are times when you need a break as a parent too.

At my house, we have a ton of craft supplies and my kids love doing crafts. It doesn't have to be expensive either. Old toilet paper rolls, cardboard boxes, pipe cleaners, coloured paper, glue. All very cheap and very fun for a kid.

I have found that paper folding or crafts is a great way to keep kids busy, especially origami. Right now with my 6yo we've started folding multi-piece geometric shapes and modular/sliding pieces.

I grew up in Michigan, and my kids are growing up in Wisconsin. I got sent outside. Send them outside.

Books, board games, cooking together

I have kids age 5 and 8. cooking is a great idea. but I dont see much difference between screen time and board games and books unless they are watching youtube or things like twitch ...

What did they do ~20 years ago?

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