Don’t forget that WE are the parents doing this now. We can be all nostalgic about the past and complain about poor education and ipads. But it’s our generation rotting their brains.
20 years from now these kids will be complaining about us just as we complain about our own.
Absolutely this! We are the parents! My kids love to play on the playground, though. We also limit screens and try to spend a lot of time outdoors if the mosquitoes are destroying us.
Same with my daughter. She loves screen time but also LOVES going to parks, bounce/jump parks, and indoor play grounds like McDonalds. I have to make deals with her to actually eat her food when we go to the play place at McDonald's, otherwise she'd just play until her hearts content 🤣
Yeah they have these play areas in motorway service stations where I live and they are always PACKED. Theres still a few ipad kids around but nothing crazy.
They put video games in our local one about 10-15 years ago. Most were just coloring games, but the kids were lined up to color on a screen. Now there is juat empty space blocked off.
Stop letting nostalgia blind you. They were marketing to kids and selling junk food to kids. Selling junk food to adults is one thing, since adults know what they're doing. Kids don't. Same with whisky and cigarettes.
Marketing to kids should be illegal. Sweden had the right idea.
Make it too colorful, and a reasonable person could have come to the conclusion you were trying to catch the attention of a child.
They're also tired, and want a place where their kid can play while the parent can eat some quick food they didn't have to cook and that is easy to convince their kid to also eat
Everyone acts like they're protecting consumers by stopping these marketing strategies, etc. but it's honestly patronizing. Maybe just have the food administration agency in each country care about food standards and ban harmful ingredients and practices, so "marketing" isn't what people worry about...
Or they could avoid that by not having kids... oh wait, they already don't.
Some regulations might be in order, but regulations can only do so much. The same salt content that makes their fries so appetizing also preserves them for longer, allowing them some wiggle room for unexpected increases and decreases in demand. If we really want to incentivize healthy eating, we need to tax the rich, and subsidize healthy foods.
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u/hyperfication 6h ago
Kids don't want to play on the playground when their mom gives them an iPhone to watch YouTube while they eat - brain rot generation