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Comment by ipnon | Hacker News Reader

There are no iPad kids in Taiwan. You go to a restaurant and all the toddlers are quietly eating. When the tantrums flare the parents gently put a lid on it. It’s truly remarkable, and I don’t have a good theory for it. But it makes going out for dinner a consistent pleasure.

I don’t know how to raise kids with an even keel but I am certain that putting a nonstop algorithm in their face and becoming outraged when they inevitably become overstimulated is not the way.

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Must not be the same Taiwan I live in. When I go out to eat I constantly see mom, dad, and kid all zonked on their own devices (usually a phone, granted, not an iPad) instead of having a meal "together." I've also seen plenty of meltdown tantrums. If I had to square your observation, I'd say it's just because there are fewer kids, period, than almost anywhere because people aren't having them.

I love threads like this

One person going "X doesn't happen in Y" is almost always followed by someone saying the exact opposite, solidifying the fact that we all live in our own bubbles, often experiencing the same things in completely different ways

Kind of reminds me of when you buy a certain car, you are suddenly primed to see that same car model everywhere, while before you weren't aware of them at all.

That is why they say an anecdote is not data

An anecdote is exactly one data.

You cannot extrapolate on one data point.

> exactly one data

Datum :)

IpAdapter among many other ML projects proved that you can indeed extrapolate on one data point. Why say lies on the internet so confidently?

Frankly a lot of people go by what they see in media rather then reality. People who belive a country X have only well behaved toddlers especially.

Yeah, I’m also in serious doubt about this. At least for Taipei (could be regional differences)? I don’t live in Taiwan, but visit often. Last time we had dinner with another family and the kids got iPads/phones immediately.

I would never think of giving my toddlers a mobile device in the first place...

Funny you're being downvoted. Meta shareholders? :-)

it's probably being downvoted because it's empty virtue signaling that doesn't provide anything to the discourse

First, it's not downvoted. Second, it's not virtual signalling. I literally do not give mobile devices to my young kids. It is an option that more parents should consider... I've seen parents mounting a tablet to their baby stroller. It's fucked up.

Do you have kids?

Yes I do :)

My kids love their screens. They use it for "productive" things (Minecraft, ...) and "unproductive" (shorts, ...). We have certain time restrictions and there are two days a week where they're not allowed to use them. We also don't let them take screens to restaurants. They get to take a bunch of crayons and a book and they're very much fine with this.

I feel that it's a matter of sticking to principles and being predictable for the kids, but maybe I'm biased and just have "easy" kids.

Sounds like you give them some reasonable guardrails without being a hardass. Some digital indulgence is impossible to enjoy with tight time limits (e.g. Minecraft) but taking two days off is a good way to stay anchored in real life.

> iPad kids

How old are these iPad kids generally? Never heard of this descriptor before.

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