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Comment by bootlooped | Hacker News Reader

I wonder what kids raised on iPads with big childproof cases will be like when they grow up, or even just when they get into high school.

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I had that discussion this week end. I wonder if it will be any different from our Game boys? Or is the problem that smaller children get their hands on them?

The problem is the child's mind vs the bidirectional feedback drip. I don't think these two devices are in the same class in respect to this.

It will be different. Playing Pokémon or Mario is much different than the endless scroll of TikTok, YouTube Kids, or a lot of the games.

Ye probably. I looked into what Nintendo does nowadays and luckely they seem to have not ditched their anachronistic cartridge design, even though there seem to be internet stores built in into "New 3DS". I guess they are opt in.

Internet store =/= algorithmically determined feeds programmed specifically to capture prolonged attention.

Traditionally, video games were addictive because the game was good. The gameplay, storyline, art, music, etc have a part in grabbing attention.

I think there are two main factors that are different (not necessarily in order):

* companies can much more easily weaponize their services and tailor them to get individuals addicted, than individual video games ever could. And the feedback loop happens much faster.

* it was easier to moderate video games, because they had a single purpose: entertainment. since you can be in a device for any number of reasons: gaming, studying, catching up, reading,... and _everyone_ is on their devices _all the time_ (both kids and parents), it's much harder to establish good boundaries.

I grew up in the 90s. At least in my part of the US, Gameboys were pretty damn rare; I only knew a couple people who had them, and they didn't play them often, in part because AA batteries were rare and precious commodities for children.

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