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New Parental Controls Limit Xbox Time
An anonymous reader writes "As part of a new marketing blitz to promote the Xbox 360 as a "family friendly" video game console, Microsoft on Wednesday rolled out a new feature called Family Timer, which will show up in the Family Settings Screen.
The Timer will let parents limit the number of hours their kids can play the Xbox on a daily or weekly basis. When the time limit is reached, the console will automatically shut off, ostensibly after saving the game."
How about this idea? Parents could actually make sure their kids didn't play too much by -- get this -- being somewhere near their kids when their kids are out of school or at least knowing what they're doing!
;) (J/k! Deal with your kids people!)
And, once the kids are older and away from parents outside of school, parents could pay enough attention to their kids to make sure they are healthy. If the kids are healthy, they aren't playing too many video games -- and they are unlikely to begin playing too many games. And, if the kid isn't healthy, the parents could intervene by making sure he engages in enough healthy behaviors (social, intellectual, and physical) so that his video game playing couldn't possibly reach unhealthy proportions. That will make a lasting difference.
Do you really think that if your kid has a problem with playing games too much, that a simple timer will stop him? Do you think he won't play games on his other two systems (which he already has if he has an XBox), on the computer, at a friends house, or that he won't just watch TV or something else that has the same effect on a child's health? (I.e. socially isolating, intellectually retarding, and emotionally unstimulating[?])
Or, at best, if he really only has an XBox and doesn't like TV and you have Cyber Nannies of all sorts on your computer, but he has a problem with playing games too much -- do you think that if the root of the problem isn't addressed (lack of appreciation of the activities which are most essentially human outside of pure "recreation" [that often involves little or no creation])???? He'll just fulfill his full potential for playing video games for inordinate amounts of time when he's cut loose! Or, even if he outgrows the video game obsession by the time he's out from under the control of your XBox timer, what's to say that the root problem that lead to too much game play won't lead to other problems?
Imagine that! Parents being truly involved is the best solution!
But, I bet the XBox will do a better job of keeping kids healthy than parents who actually read a book or two, find some common sense, learn to truly love their kids, and spend some time with them. Sure it will...
Bottom line, parents need to be aware of their child's health as a person, not just a physical being, and need to intervene when necessary. It doesn't mean your child is "diseased" just 'cause he plays too many games, he's just not ideally healthy. And I'm not the thought police here, and I recognize the right of people (including children) to live as they wish, but children need guidance. Not so many timers, just more guidance. It doesn't need to be painful in the least, especially if you start playing an important role in molding your child into a well-rounded human being at an early age!
But, if you haven't taken any action in your kid's life yet and he plays too many games and he's already 13 or so, you might just want to turn on the timer and call it a day while they figure out their way around it instead of doing their homework or taking a walk... For your own health, that is.