Regulate Your Kids' Gaming With Time Scout

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a PC World/Yahoo story discussing the Time-Scout Monitor, a device "which tracks and enforces usage limits on electronic products, and cuts the power when time runs out." It's aimed at kids who may watch TV or, particularly, play game consoles for too long, and uses an ATM-like card to allott time on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. According to the man behind it, Kent Hansen, "You get home and the kid is playing Nintendo or the computer when they're supposed to be doing homework. Then you're facing arguments and negotiations that make you the bad guy. With this product, there's no argument, because you can't argue with a box."

Comments

Glad we didn't have this.

[jspoon]

When my family first got a computer, I was in junior high, it was perhaps 1996. Initially, my mother limited my time spent on computer games to 1 hour a week. Let me tell you, there's not much you can do in an hour a week, I tried playing Myst. The only other games that were marginally playable oner those conditions were Lemmings and Sim City 2k.

I actually followed the rule for more than a year, then my dad started going on lemmings binges and the injustice of it all sank in. Ultimately, if she'd said "an hour per day" or something I probably would have wasted less of my life overall on computer games.

Get the kid involved?

[Baloo Ursidae]

Seems like the solution to this isn't Time Scout, but rather Boy Scouts or some other extracurriclar activity. One weekend a month, plus a weekly meeting during the school year and a week out of the summer. Joining Troop 592, Portland was one of the best decisions I made when I was younger. Great for the eternally gaming youth, after all, Scouting is a game with a purpose. FPS addict? we have you covered. Think of it like the meatspace port of America's Army.

Scouting not your speed? Adults not willing to help out with troop logistics occasionally? Go grab your local equivilent of Computer Bits and find your local gaming groups. Yeah, it's not really reducing hours gamed, but it's getting that all-important social interaction, which is the ultimate goal.

Gaming too much is more of a social issue than a technological one, and one that requires a social solution.

Is this supposed to be a joke?

[Anonymous Coward]

"You get home and the kid is playing Nintendo or the computer when they're supposed to be doing homework. Then you're facing arguments and negotiations that make you the bad guy. With this product, there's no argument, because you can't argue with a box."

You might not be able to argue with it, but it's not stopping you from plugging the damn console directly into the wall, is it? Does this Time Scout stop a kid from resetting its password, then entering some random number combination so that the parents can't even enable it?

Kids may be foolish, but they're devious. Furthermore, parents assume that their children are stupid and incompetent, and therefore slack off, doing things like using "12345" as the password or leaving the original power supply lying back behind the TV.

Besides, if the Time Scout can't somehow lock onto a console's power-cord connection, it's a waste of money. Power cords are cheap and easy to acquire, especially if there are more than one kid working together - a couple week's allowance for a new power supply, they plug in when they're home alone, and they can burn all their alotted time when the parents are home. It's futile trying to control a latch-key kid*; if you're not there, what's to be afraid of?

And what's this shit about not having to fight with your kids? Are people so afraid of accountability that they're willing to entrust the raising of their offspring to electronic devices? If you're so afraid of fighting, why not just let the little bastards play Nintendo all day?

I hate to sound so vitriolic, but shit like this ticks me off. If you don't want your kids to play Nintendo when they should be doing their homework or chores, don't let them. If they do, take the console (not the power cord) and put it in your office at work. This sounds like a device designed for parents who have to leave their kids alone occasionally, and I will guarantee you that if it's hidden in the house, they will find it. They'll most likely even be able to replace it so that you won't even know they did.

* You might not be able to control them, but if you do a good job raising a kid, you won't have to. There are no children who are born incorrigible.

it's only a matter of time...

[gabe]

How long until some ingenius little tyke figures out how to hack or modify the device anyways? If they can't get enough access to do what they want to do, they'll go to the library, school or a friend's house and use a computer there to figure out how to break the restrictions on the box. Then all mom and dad have is a $70 hunk of metal and plastic, and they're back to square one.

Am I the only one who thinks this might be a GOOD

[cjackson0]

...idea?

I agree that the modern parent leaves too much parenting Jo XBOX and re-runs of "Leave it to Beaver", but have you ever tried saying Goodnight to a kid with ADD? It's quite a process, let me tell ya (my girlfriends brother can't focus on food, let alone homework). This is a firm "sorry, get your ass to bed". Sure, there will be whining of "just a few more credits pleaaaaassee...." but there is a firm 'NO' that can along with that.

It's a slightly less drastic measure than unplugging the game machine yourself (which starts a much more fun and larger arguement) and this device gives you a warning. It's hard to monitor the exact bedtime clock when you're doing laundry, the dishes, and trying to balance the checkbook all at the same time.

Before we all claim that anyone who uses some outside help in disciplining their kids is a bad parent, we should really think about how this might actually be usefull.

Just my 2 cents