Do kids under the age of 16 use computers for something other than gaming?
Posted
February 20, 2009 
Comments(12)
Comments(12)
Lirenza asked:
I am writing a letter to our local library. They are planning to no longer allow children under the age of sixteen use their computers. This is because they believe that the kids are only using the computers to play games. I am taking a survey and hopefully they will consider my letter. Please state your opinion. That would help me out a lot!! Thanks!
homework, research, exploring etc
basicly yeah or just chatting with a friend and sometimes even a homework paper but it should be 14 and under mabe you can change that but ill give you a star….
hope this helps!!
interestic question by the way lol
goodluck to ya!!!!!!!!!
I don’t really use games on my computer. I usually contact my friends. Sometimes I write stories or do my homework. If I go to a library I don’t use the computers for games I use it to write reports about the book I just read. If I ever game on my computer I usually only do it for about 15 minutes.
I could roll either way to be honest. I dont think they should be allowed on the net that young (atleast not without supervision) but theres no harm in letting a youngster play some games. Unless he wont leave and patient old man winters has to wait four hours for Jonny to finish.
That is completely false. When I was in 4th grade, I started learning HTML, and built my own website from scratch. I also started learning BASIC and javascript soon afterwards. In 6th grade I started troubleshooting and fixing computers. If they don’t want people playing games, they should block certain websites, not people. If they block sub-16 users, it would be unfairly discriminatory.
Homework, research, browsing social networking etc.
The library should just block gaming sites, or use homework portals.
I believe there are definitely kids under the age of 16 that use the computer for activities other than gaming. My son who recently turned 13 has assignments that require the use of a computer and the internet. Also, I would say it depends on the types of games that are being played.
There are many educational games out there that allow children to learn while having fun. There is also a website that allows a download of a program called Alice that teaches 3D programming in an interactive setting.
Also, I do understand why kids under 16 are being targeted. There are adults that only play games on the computer and I know many 16 and over kids that only socialize on MySpace when allowed on.
In my opinion a better solution would be for the library to either setup a certain number of PCs for under age 16 users or put up signs that says during high usage periods limit computer time to a predetermined amount of minutes.
You may want to use a free survey tool and send out a survey to obtain results. Zoomerang.com has such a free tool but I am not sure of the restrictions. Good luck!
I don’t think that it is bad for under aged kids to be on the computer. There could be kids that don’t have access to computers, and the library may be their only way to learn. I didn’t get my kids a computer until they were 8 and 10. In hind sight, I think I waited too long. I notice a difference in their abilities with a computer. Libraries could always have certain computers for under aged kids loaded with say Vista. Vista has really good parental controls on it which would allow them to limit the sites the kids could visit. Also kids with a library card could be issued a user name that has time limits set on it. Games for kids are not a bad thing. There are many educational games that can get kids familiar with keyboarding and mouse usage. I think the library is being lazy in their banning computers for minors. It would be a real shame if kids who don’t own a computer loose this privilege.
Yes, I think web surfing, email, Youtube, Facebook, MySpace, and IM are the other big usages for teenagers.
If I ever game on my computer I usually only do it for about 15 minutes.
Playing on the comp. can just be a hobby for a kid, some kids even make huge games online and it take a lot of brains for that, P3@C3
these kids constantly block library computers and take offence if you ask if you can use the computers for something more important. It is so annoying. ban them i say unless they prove they will use for educational purposes.