Is computer use worse than TV time? - Page 2

[bright_eyes]

Originally Posted by obiandelismom

Hey! Maybe we need a "computer-free" forum! Er... wait a minute....

Ha ha, I thought this was sooo funny!

For me, the computer is way worse than t.v. I have been a t.v. watcher but the computer sucks up a lot of my time. I really have a hard time balancing it with the rest of my life.

[slf]

Originally Posted by bright_eyes

I have been a t.v. watcher but the computer sucks up a lot of my time. I really have a hard time balancing it with the rest of my life.

same with me, sadly. it seems like my computer time has just replaced my tv time.

[amyleigh33]

First of all, hi mamas, I'm Amy and this is my first time posting in the TV free forum (just found it thru someone's siggy), and I am a computer addict.

In the interest of peeling myself off MDC sometime before midnight, I will just multi-quote things other people already said that I totally agree with.

Originally Posted by obiandelismom

Yes, definitely, I replaced TV with the computer. I find that it is "worse" in the ways you mentioned, but it gives back more than tv-watching does. It is absolutely a time-suck for me, though, and I think on the whole I would be better off going "computer-free", at least for a time.

Hey! Maybe we need a "computer-free" forum! Er... wait a minute....

: and

Originally Posted by fek&fuzz

What I need is a program, that I am unable to override, that will shut it down every 1/2 hour in the evenings and say "go do something else" and will then shut it down at 9:30 pm and say "go to bed".

Do you use a wireless router? In the setup for them, you can do that, and you could have someone else in your house be the password keeper so you can't override it.

Me, I make myself do my daily chores (i.e. Wednesday ~ clean baby's room & do her laundry) before I turn on the computer. Then I sometimes I get nothing else done until it's time to start making supper :

[bhawkins]

Yeah, computer has replaced the TV for me. We are not TV free but I watch very little TV. I could be on the computer all day long. I do think I learn more and am far more productive on the computer, so perhaps it's slightly better than the TV for me.

[Shell]

I'd say that the computer has replaced the TV for me as well. It is definitely addictive for me. What's worse is that I'm in one room on my computer upstairs, and my husband is downstairs on his computer. With the TV, at least we used to watch together, cuddle on the couch, and talk about what we were watching. I feel our computer use has affected our relationship. Every evening we're both on our computer for hours (well, I was before the baby arrived 2 months ago!).

I think a lot about the Jane Healy books, "Failure to Connect" and "Endangered Minds" and how her research suggested that kids should not become too involved with computers until the age of 9 (I'm pretty sure that was the age she suggested). Yet what kind of behavior are we modeling for our kids? My 3.5 year old daughter sees DH and I running to the computer all day long, and she of course wants to do what we do. I am sure she will be computer addicted as well -- but of course, so will her entire generation. I don't see how we will possibly hold out until she is 9. Right now she watches some short videos on the computer. She has no idea that there are games that can be played. But in a year or so she is quite likely to have figured that out.

I really need to practice turning the computer off for a period of time! Like weekends! Time to go to bed (and get off the computer!).

[LCB]

I'm also an addict. I actually came to this forum to start this exact thread. I can veg out in front of a computer for MUCH longer than the TV. The TV bores me, the internet has endless chances for blog reading and forum posting! But what to do about it? There is no way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks that my DH will agree to giving up our high speed internet connection. I'm worried that, once my new baby comes, I'm going to do nothing but nurse and surf the internet all day. I think I'm going to have to physically turn off my computer, instead of just letting it sit in sleep mode all the time!

[shanniesue2]

We are extremely TV limited in our house. DH doesn't watch any TV, and I watch 1 hour a week, but only when new episodes are on. And we both have major internet addiction. In some ways, I frequently think that it would be better to be addicted to TV than to internet because then at least it would be something we could do together. And we could mute commercials and talk about whatever it is we're watching. But with internet, one of us gets buried in the laptop while the other one sits around waiting for their turn. But in all that, we're not actually spending the time together. It used to be worse b/c we used to have a desk top and a laptop. I would be in the office on the desktop and he would be in the living room on the laptop. And we would actually go into the same chat room to talk to each other. : So I got rid of the desk top, and now we just argue over who's turn it is on the laptop Good grief.

[mama_at_home]

I was a major TV addict before we got rid of it. I am an internet addict, too! Thankfully, my dh takes the laptop with him to work during the day so I don't get online til he gets home at night. But then I stay up waaaay past my bedtime because I can't seem to close the computer. When dh leaves with the computer in the morning I go into withdrawls. But it's good for me because we have no TV and no internet during the day-just me and the kids.