No. It’s not another post about learning to tell time. Kai’s got that down pat now!
Instead, it’s about changing activities by the clock. Many would-be unschoolers, and even homeschoolers, to a degree, cite school bells as one of their main reasons to abandon the school system. Anyone who has been to school, whether you generally liked it or not, can remember the frustration of just getting into the groove of something – for me that would have pretty much only been art lesson – and the bell ringing and you have to go off and start something completely unrelated, that you might hate (that would have been math…maybe geography – but mostly I just hated that teacher!).
There’s really not much that’s more frustrating that being forced to stop doing something you are really getting into. You found your groove…bang! Sorry. You need to stop that now!
Who hasn’t stayed up way too late reading ‘just another chapter’ of a great book? (guilty!) Or stayed up way too late binge-watching just another episode of their favourite show? (guilty!) Some people get into a similar groove with knitting (guilty – On rare occasion!). With drawing or painting. Any passion where you can dive in and time becomes irrelevant. For some activities, the more you focus and become engrossed, the more inspired you become. You might do your best work after hours of writing, or drawing, or painting, because you are fully focussed, you found your ‘flow’, or mojo, as we like to call it!
Flow is a real thing, which makes Mojo a real thing – which I like a lot! Flow, in terms of psychology, is also known as ‘the zone’ and is the mental state in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. Flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does (adapted from here).
According to Mihály Csíkszentmihályi , the Hungarian psychologist, flow is a ‘single-minded immersion and represents perhaps the ultimate experience in harnessing the emotions in the service of performance and learning.’
So. It frustrates me when adults think it’s okay to still stop kids doing a beloved activity based on the clock. Mostly, this seems to be video gaming. Sometimes TV and other oh so scary modern technology. When my Mum was a kid, it was reading. My Nan would tell her to put her book down and go outside. Parents probably still do this….but overwhelmingly I find it relating to ‘screentime’ (agggh! That word!!) specifically.
Parents who have shown dissatisfaction with the school system of bells are essentially implementing the same system in their own home if they are arbitrarily telling their kids to stop gaming after an hour. Or whatever time allowance THEY decided upon.
Imagine if your partner told you put your book down after one hour? ‘Okay, that’s your allowed book reading time today. Stop now, or there will be no more book reading for you for the rest of the week.’ Imagine you were in the middle of a chapter? Would you be annoyed? Might you shout and fight this arbitrary and unfair ‘rule’ of limited time imposed by someone who is supposed to be your partner? Maybe your partner would deduce that reading books made you angry, after that, and limit them even more? Well, that’s how your kids feel – and so it’s not video games making then ‘aggressive and angry’ and all the other things parents say – it’s the unfair rule of limited time.
Aside from the false argument that ‘screentime’ causes kids to be aggressive and angry (when it’s actually you interrupting their flow that is likely causing that reaction), many parents also argue that ‘screentime’ makes their kids ‘hyperactive’.
Previously, in discussions, maybe even here on this blog, I’ve said that video games and TV don’t have magical powers to change peoples behaviour. I’m going to revise that statement.
In terms of psychology, flow, and what we just learnt about getting ‘in the zone’ – I think video games, TV, books, knitting, drawing…anything you can essentially ‘get lost’ in, will change what’s going on in your brain.
I know after finishing a great book, I’m sometimes kept awake at night thinking about characters and the story. Same with TV shows (for me, that includes Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, and various others….all have had me kept awake thinking, thinking….!). I spend a lot of time looking fan theories, and thinking about plot lines – I love it!
When I used to do more freelance and creative writing, I’d get ideas and couldn’t sleep until I’d written them down and ‘got them out’. Even when I was doing my PhD, I’d find flow in doing data analysis (true story!) and then have more and more ideas of experiments I could do.
So. I’d argue that yes – getting immersed in anything can make your brain hyperactive. Flow is characterised by profound changes in brain function – when you are experiencing flow, your brain is literally lit up. But this isn’t a bad thing! This is a good thing!
A recent study in Australia, 40 research subjects were presented with an exceptionally tricky brain teaser—the kind that requires a deep creative insight to solve. No one solved it. But when flow was induced artificially (using transcranial magnetic stimulation), 23 subjects got the answer right and in record time.
By setting arbitrary time limits on your child’s access to superb learning resources like video games and TV (and books, and knitting and drawing…but I somehow doubt you are doing that :p ), you are stopping them reaching their flow state. So. Basically stunting their learning. Not allowing them to reach their full learning potential. And keeping them set within the arbitrary bell ringing school-world. One of the key tenets of getting the most learning potential from reaching the flow state is:
- Make sure that you’ve set aside sufficient time. It takes at least fifteen (uninterrupted!) minutes to start to get into the flow state, and longer until you’re fully immersed. Once you enter the flow state you want to make sure that you make the most of it, instead of having to stop prematurely because you have to go do something else (or something arbitrary because your parent says it’s time to stop).
If you want to truly move away from the limits of the school bell, and let your child learn as deeply and passionately as reaching a flow state, then all their passions need to be supported and facilitated – and that includes video gaming, TV and other ‘screentime’ – move away from the fear and into the flow!
More about learning and video games here
Here is a talk about flow state by Prof. Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, called ‘Flow: The Secret to Happiness’
This is a really cool article about flow states in gaming, and game development.
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