# Reasons for Curtailing Our – and Our Childrens' – Screentime \[part 2/2\]

**URL:** <https://ff2f.discourse.group/t/reasons-for-curtailing-our-and-our-childrens-screentime-part-2-2/707>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Created:** [March 18, 2023, 6:03pm UTC](https://ff2f.discourse.group/t/reasons-for-curtailing-our-and-our-childrens-screentime-part-2-2/707 "2023-03-18T18:03:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/ff2f/original/1X/a6f2df9cdd633865e74aad332e9010cc75e3d65d.png) [@system](https://ff2f.discourse.group/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2023, 6:03pm UTC](https://ff2f.discourse.group/t/reasons-for-curtailing-our-and-our-childrens-screentime-part-2-2/707/1 "2023-03-18T18:03:55Z")

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Continuing on from the [previous post](https://ff2f.com/by-limiting-online-gaming-chinas-government-has-become-as-heavy-handed-as-my-parents-were/) in which the deleterious effects that screens can have on children was ever-so-briefly touched upon, the heavy-handed approach of a government – like China's – utilising privacy-encroaching methods to impose limitations on the usage of said technologies would quite justifiably be disagreeable to most people in more democratic countries. So rather than following the example of China's government, perhaps a suggestion made by the long-departed Chinese philosopher Confucius (who may actually have been authoritarian) may be more palatable. As Confucius stated in _The Great Digest_,

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This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at [https://ff2f.com/reasons-for-curtailing-our-and-our-childrens-screentime/](https://ff2f.com/reasons-for-curtailing-our-and-our-childrens-screentime/)

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**Author:** ![Mike\_S](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/ff2f.discourse.group/mike_s/32/76_2.png) [@Mike\_S](https://ff2f.discourse.group/u/Mike_S)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2024, 8:37pm UTC](https://ff2f.discourse.group/t/reasons-for-curtailing-our-and-our-childrens-screentime-part-2-2/707/2 "2024-06-11T20:37:42Z")

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My experience is that controlling children’s activities in ways they don’t understand tends to lead to resentment, and even worse to rebound behavior when they’re independent. The child with limited access to desserts lives on cookies in her 20s. The child denied video games does nothing but play video games when he’s at college. The child forced to read even when he didn’t want to grows up to hate all reading.

I don’t like what screens do to my kids. But I’m trying to respect their autonomy, and hoping they will come to understand the negative effects and come to exercise self-control on their own.

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/ff2f/original/1X/a6f2df9cdd633865e74aad332e9010cc75e3d65d.png) [@system](https://ff2f.discourse.group/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2024, 8:37pm UTC](https://ff2f.discourse.group/t/reasons-for-curtailing-our-and-our-childrens-screentime-part-2-2/707/3 "2024-06-11T20:37:42Z")

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