Despite being a veritable genius when it comes to selling the masses on the latest tech product, Steve Jobs once candidly admitted that he set strict guidelines for how much time his own kids were allowed to watch screens at home.
It seems Jobs’ Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak, isn’t quite on the same page, however — as Woz argues in a new interview that kids should be able to spend as much time on the computer as they want.
Speaking with Australian current affairs show Lateline, Woz said that, “I would never tell a kid to get off their phones, [just like I wouldn’t with] any kid doing anything technical, addicted to a computer, [or] addicted to a game. Let them find themselves in the world. Don’t force your values on them.”
I’ve written quite a bit about kids’ use of tech during my time at Cult of Mac — and it always yields interesting responses. A previous article in Newsweek claimed that U.S. children spend more than 7.5 hours each day using smartphones and other electronic devices: something attributed to making them inept at reading social cues due to the lack of personal interaction.
At the same time, it’s impossible to deny the many benefits associated with kids’ ready access to technology, from smartphones to tablets.
Do you agree with Woz or Jobs in this debate? And how do you allow for changing technologies and not wanting to “force your values” on kids when it comes to how much screen time they’re allowed? Leave your comments below.
(The rest of the Woz interview is also worth checking out, if you’re interested in the perspectives of Apple’s often outspoken co-founder.)
Source: ABC
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
7 responses to “Woz would have disagreed with Jobs about screen time for kids”
How many young kids has Woz had growing up since iPhones/iPads became mainstream? Why would we listen to this guy?
I have 5 kids, 13 and under, and all but the youngest has their own iPad. If we let them they would be on them 12 hours per day, and this would be _very bad_ for their development in multiple ways. We strictly limit their usage of the devices, although the two eldest are given more leeway to use them.
The youngest (2) had actually taught herself how to open my Wife’s iPad, find YouTube, start it, and start surfing videos. Within a week she was completely addicted and it took a concerted effort to break her of an intense “need” for the iPad. It wasn’t pretty.
Any progress in technology has always delivered information in progressively easier ways.
With computers and iPads information has finally become near natural. Kids do not need to spend 10 years just to understand the information held in YouTube or access the delight they can find in games, as they do with reading and writing.
Socrates hated written text. He preferred face to face discussion, but that was impossible. Now we are finally near to that ideal.
why does Woz still get so much attention? He’s irrelevant.
I think it entirely depends on what a child is doing online.
Are they watching pointless YouTube videos and spending hours upon hours on Facebook? Yeah, I think limiting time is a good idea.
Are they spending the exact same amount of time on the computer, but using that time to learn about different subjects, learn things like coding, etc? If so, limiting isn’t as necessary.
Hopefully there’s more context to that quote (Don’t force your values on them.), but the reason kids are kids is because they’re not yet adults with a clear picture of the ramifications of all their choices. If a child spends too much time on something that causes them to suffer in life or grades, then, yes, parents should limit their time (some adults should get that supervision, too!). Each child and their circumstances are different, so an across-the-board limit is not possible.
Sad to say this his shelf time has passed and I hope he learn to keep his mouth shut otherwise whatever respect he garnered as a genius in his early days will be replaced by contempt for the noise he is sprouting now.
How many kids has he raised? And a kid would eat pizza and candy everyday too if we let him. A child is unable to know that 7+ hours a day in front of a screen is probably not best for his developing mind and body. Kids need to interact with the “outside” world, read, learn some real life skills and interact with other people. These activities will certainly help a kid out in the future a lot more than Minecraft, Call of Duty and Instagram. Most kids use tech as a toy, not a learning tool. Parents need to wake up, set strict guidelines for tech use, or better yet don’t buy your kids this stuff. They don’t need it! The bombardment of information (most useless) is not helping our kids, it’s hurting them in the long run. Studies show that a lack of stimulation is bad for developing brains (Orphan studies), the same is true for too much (artificial) stimulation on the developing brain.