Long winded parenting talk. People with no kids can skip.
[quote name='SaraAB']
TV has no value and is proven to make brains more stagnant, (if you have played brain age for the DS the game talks about this) so therefore under your assumption children should watch no TV since it has no value and can make the brain less active. [/QUOTE]
On the flipside TV can also stimulate activity. I let my kids (6&8) watch a decent amount of tv, but 80% of it can be viewed as educational... and that's their choice, I didn't force it on them.
I started them out with the classic Disney shorts from the 30's-50's, mixed in the Muppet Show & DuckTales, and moved on to Looney Tunes. I have a passion for movies, especially Disney/Pixar so all that's been consumed as well. We have a projector with a 12' screen so it's a treat to watch a film.
Somewhere in the mix, however, I introduced them to Planet Earth and Life. Ever since then, they have been consumed by any and all Discovery-type shows about animals & nature. Their current favorites are Wild Kratts (PBS live/animated hybrid that teaches about animals), Ocean Mysteries, Sea Rescue and Wild Things with Dominic Monahghan. All are wildly educational. Take my oldest, on a recent WT, Dom found a certain kind of snake so my oldest went to the school library yesterday to find a snake book that would tell her more about it. She tore through the book already and can tell me all about them. She reads a ton, and has already decided to be an Oceanographer. Good for her, now we have to figure out how to realize that dream.
Even when they venture into that other 20% (non-educational) it's a treat. They both do gymnastics 6 hours a week, knock out their homework right after school, and are all around well behaved/mannered kids. So even when they decide to watch Phineas & Ferb or Young Justice, after it's over they'll be digging into the crafts to either draw their own superhero or in the oldest's case create her own mask so she can be a female Kid Flash(she's obsessed with KF). They have an obsession with creating stuff out of empty cereal boxes and milk jugs.
I can see how tv can rot the brain ( i.e. parents who just let the tv parent for a few hours a day), but to those who are involved in what they are watching (I watch most of those shows with them) it can be a learning tool. So yeah, since it's clear my kids are getting something out of what they're watching I probably let them watch more than I should, or are at least more lenient when they want to watch something that's not educational.
Now to bring it back to games. I grew up with Atari & Nintendo, afternoon cartoons, and Saturday morning block of cartoons, all eating up all my free time as a kid and I'd like to think I turned out okay. I even ended up in a creative field.
My oldest has a DS & a new iPod Touch. Minecraft has consumed her gaming time. So much so, I have to take it away from time to time. The youngest got a 3DS from Santa. She's not a big gamer, but when she does play it she turns the 3D off. Her choice. She doesn't like it. Her game of choice? Animal Genius, that teaches about animals.
So science can tell you tv rots the brain, or 3D is bad for children's eyes but science and studies remove the human element from the equation. Good parenting wins in the end. If you don't let these things rule your kid's world, I think they'll turn out just fine.