It’s how you use the tools that count, and I think both types need (self-)restrictions placed upon them to be maximally effective and fun. Even a gun has a use, within certain bounds e.g. Ukraine can put them to great use.
Comment on Rubén Baler, neuroscientist: ‘We are guinea pigs. Our attention has become a profitable commodity’
Shadowq8@lemmy.world 1 month ago
My 2 cents on this.
Stay off your phone.
Gaming consoles offer a better experience than the low-quality entertainment on phones and tablets.
Spending time on toxic social media is like feeding your brain junk food.
It’s all designed to quickly exploit you.
I’d prefer my kids use a gaming console like the Switch instead of an iPad.
OpenStars@discuss.online 1 month ago
whoreticulture@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 month ago
idk I use my phone to play chess, wingspan, Root, all kinds of games. And on Instagram I usually just see pictures about my friends lives, news, local events. The most well informed people I know are all active on social media. If all your kids are doing is playing console video games, they’ll be disconnected. The most cutting edge news is on social media, and has been for years now. My phone is just a more comfortable way to do things. I could play chess and read the news on my laptop, but I don’t want to.
This just reads like moral panic over tech you don’t like … you know, people used to fear-monger about books being too addictive and bad for you.
rtxn@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Doomscrolling on reddit, imgur, and twatter destroyed my mental health over a ~4-year period. I went cold turkey on all three about a year ago and there is a remarkable difference. They caused a great deal of anxiety, I just didn’t realise it at the time.
whoreticulture@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 month ago
How is Lemmy better than reddit for doomscrolling?
rtxn@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Less content on the whole. There are many “the world is sliding back into fascism”-type posts, but I don’t feel compelled to scroll on the front page infinitely.
maegul@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
Yea wow. As a 90s kid I’d never thought of comparing smart phones to consoles. Great point. Gaming together on the couch or a truly fun and social activity and way more wholesome than doom scrolling
EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 1 month ago
On a phone, I actually rarely get stuck for hours. Not only because most of my personal data has to stay off of it (it cannot have LineageOS or similar), but also because it is inconvenient af. No keyboard, small screen, everything is slow. The problem of infinitely going into rabbit holes solves itself, while on the laptop there has to be a lot more self-control - it is far more comfortable.
grue@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Gaming consoles just mean you’ve already bought into their walled garden. They don’t need to use the same tactics the mobile games use; you’re already trapped. Hell, you’re probably already paying a monthly subscription for online play, and then there’s still nothing stopping individual game publishers from further enshittifying on top of that!
No, what you should really be doing is gaming on PC (Linux), ideally with games bought DRM-free (e.g. from GoG) or even by only playing Free Software games. I personally compromise enough to accept Steam, but that really is at the absolute limits of acceptability (and only then because of factoring goodwill from all their work on Linux compatibility for games).
john89@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
Emulation, baby.
Use your brains before your wallets.
jabathekek@sopuli.xyz 1 month ago
Hell yeah. I haven’t been able to play jak x in literally a decade and I was able to start it up today and bask it’s 480p glory. Next is laughing at the first killzone while still enjoying the story and trying out Demon’s Souls for the first time.