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Not the person you replied to and don't have kids yet, but with the current state of TV, I'd much rather let my child watch their entertainment on an old laptop (or tablet or whatever) that I control rather than a TV.

They can more easily watch with headphones, they can even watch in private if they're introverted, and I'd feel a lot better knowing they won't switch channels without my knowledge or watch adverts for stupid plastic trash.

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Children don't actually NEED electronic entertainment of any kind. Kids lived that way for a very long time.

They do benefit from access to technology to an extent though: they need to know about it in order to fully interact with the world they are to grow up into.

At what point this becomes necessary is a matter of much argument. They certainly don't need it in the first few years, but I'd suggest they need to be at least aware by the time they are going to school.

It is difficult to separate this from entertainment, because being entertained/interested/curious is largely how our brains do some of their best learning at early ages.

> Kids lived that way for a very long time.

Be careful with appeals to tradition.

The world doesn't exactly work the way it did a long time ago, so we are not preparing kids for the same life they were expected to experience back then.

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