Why Don't We Just Turn Our Children Into Robots?
from the that'll-make-them-easier-to-control dept
While some people have already replaced real dogs with robotic dogs (even if Sony is getting out of the robotic dog business), it seems like some parents are looking to turn their children into robots too, who can easily be controlled at the touch of a button. We've already seen too many stories where parents are upset about new technologies because their kids don't always do what they want -- but it seems like some new solutions may be going a bit too far in the other direction. We already told you about the school lunch checkout machines that parents could program to make sure their kids don't buy any unhealthy food. However, one company is going well beyond that. It's got a new device that lets a parent define how much time his or her kids can spend watching TV, playing video games or using a computer. This really isn't all that different than telephone timers that some of my friends had when growing up. It always seemed too rigid, as rather than teaching my friends who had them how to properly manage their time, it just was a huge nuisance for everyone. Instead of setting hard limits, why not work on teaching kids how to judge for themselves what's appropriate and how to better manage their own time?
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Back to Basics
My parents had no filters or gadgets to make my sis and I do the right thing - they PARENTED.
I'm a parent too. Its hard, but this seems to just be a matter of parents today not having the time or not caring to take the time to actually RAISE their children.
It's time to get back to the basics with parenthood - spend some time with your kids instead of wasting money on more gadgets to run your life.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Back to Basics
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Back to Basics
BULLSHIT. Your parents had poor priorities. Period.
If they had too many kids than they had time to regulate, that's a FAILURE, not a happenstance. You may be too PC to call it what it is, but please, don't pollute the rest of parentdom with such a ridiculous premise.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Back to Basics
That said, doing it via electronic leashes is the wrong way. It sends the message of not wanting to relate to them.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ummm...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Ummm...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
hmmm parenting...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: hmmm parenting...
Nah, no one ever uses it. It'd be the only patent that's not being infringed.
And Jake... seriously man. Time to switch to decaf.
And while I hate busting on people's speech/typing, I can't let the hypocrisy go. "�have they ever encouraged the choice of making sure you can communicate in English?????� You do know that one question mark will do, right? Just checking.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
How dumb...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: How dumb...
Get rid of it. shoot the damned thing. YOu're the adult man, it's YOUR HOSE. For the love of god, why do people let themselves become slaves to pop culture????? You have a choice. Exercise it, you'll feel better.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: How dumb...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No Subject Given
if my parents ever gave up for technology, i would disown them. i love to spend time with them even if it means they kick me off the tv and go for a run with my dad. my parents tried setting limits but in the end they decided i had to learn on my own and i decided it was better to spend time with them than to waste it watching tv. computers is a different story all together. my parents are semi-illiterate with computers. my mom is pretty proficient with macs (i hate them) so she understands that i have an interest in computers and they help me wiht that interest. they know i will spend some of my day online because i am learning about an interst. if my parents ever gave up for a peice of hardware, i would defenitly lose hope in teh world.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No Subject Given
You suffer from a serious case of never having your ass kicked.
Your parents make the decisions FOR YOU. Why??? Because you are a C H I L D. Disown them???? What the hell kind of crack are you smoking? I suspect that your parents are whipped into thinking they have to be your friend instead of your parent.
You picked your own limits? That's a shame and a failure. It is fortunate that you picked a GOOD path, but let�s face it, most kids would not.
Here's an issue:
"warning: i am a 16 year old.
if my parents ever gave up for technology, i would disown them. "
"if my parents ever gave up for a peice of hardware, i would defenitly lose hope in teh world."
This doesn't even make sense. In all the understanding and compassion that your parent apparently put out in making sure you get to make your own choices, have they ever encouraged the choice of making sure you can communicate in English?????
You should be more concerned about this than concerned about parents who limit the amount of time their children spend online.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No Subject Given
I mean when comments coming from mothers asking my friend (who works retail) how long a certain game will keep their child busy are common, there's something definately wrong.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No Subject Given
How many of you (over 35) had both parents working? How many of us now have to have two incomes to survive?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
You clearly have no kids?
This is very basic logic. Either you don't get it, or you're too damn liberal to care.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
CONTROLING KIDS
What happened to teaching kids how to make judgement calls?
What happened to talking with kids however long it takes to get them to understand why we need them to cooperate in certain ways?
What happened to good old freedom?
CONTROLS are for unwilling fed spys who have been turned against their will.
If my parents had tried to treat me that way it would have lasted until I could have figured a way to kill them. NO ONE CONTROLS ME! Never Have.. Never Will..
I'm sure each and everyone of us on this forum who is over 35 skipped school a few times.
We eat bad foods plenty of times, we looked at our dads porno whenever we got a chance... probably stole a playboy or playgirl even...
Jacked off to it in the backyard or car or whereever we had the chance.....
You know what...... other than a gang of people who seem to think they can run our lives better than we can.... generally we all think we turned out ok.
Somehow or another we managed to grow up and create familys of our own. We work, we play, we live our lives.... we accomplished this all without all of this time management and control bullshit that is being preached today.
And guess what... our children will be doing the same after we are dead and gone...... no matter what they will be doing almost the same thing 100 years from now as we are doing today..... just like people were doing a 100 years ago.....
wake up people, your children are not gonna be clones of you. they are not gonna have your values or ideals of the world, and they probably shouldn't.
change is vital to a civilization, critical even.
ahh to hell with it, i'm tired of being a champion of civil rights. I don't understand why but almost everyone now thinks more control is a good idea. problem with that is that we have been slowly gaining more control over everything and nothing is getting better.
ever wonder about that? Its really scary that our technlogical understanding has become so out of balance with our spiritual and moral understanding.
Are you scared? If your smart you are.... however your probably scared about the wrong things?
You should be scared that yout government cares less about you than the rest of the world.
You should be scared that ther USA is letting a known terroist-aiding company control major sea ports.
You should be scared that our president has so overstepped his presidental powers that in any other time of our history he would have already been thrown out on his arse.
You should be scared that the majority of amercians think they are justified in telling you how you can and cannot have sex, or if you can and cannot gamble.....
You should be scared that being a patroit in Amercia now is to be considered a potential threat......
Are you scared.......I sure the hell am..... bet were not scared about the same things though.....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Parenting
Timers can be as much for parents as for kids, especially when the kid in question is under six. When my son plays his computer games, that gives me some breathing space to do some things around the house. But because I'm hurrying to maximize the amount I can do, it becomes easy to lose track of time. A timer of any kind (I prefer an egg timer) keeps us both honest.
What I don't like about Bob is that, unlike an egg timer, there's no leeway. With my son, if his time runs out but he's doing really well with his spelling game or something, I can let him play longer. That's not possible with Bob.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]