My son spends a lot of his time playing video games. I have accepted that this is his passion... and maybe very well play a part in his career path. but lately he's also been watching videos of other people playing video games on YouTube! Please help me see a reason that this is not just a waste of time... I know you'll have a good way to look at this latest passion.
Musicians watch videos of other musicians. Athletes watch videos of other athletes. Chess players have even been known to watch other people play chess with something approaching awe and rapture. Woodworkers watch woodworking shows. Cooks watch cooking shows. Dancers watch better dancers and learn like crazy!
Speaking of musicians, I've played a LOT of piano, and guitar in my life. I play recorder better than I play either of those, and have played formally (sonatas) and informally (by ear, in the dark, at campfires). I sing, lots of styles, can harmonize in different styles... LOTS of music. NOT a career path for me. It's a very large part of the way I see/hear/experience the world, but my "career path" had to do more with writing and learning (learning about how people learn).
Lots of people knit or crochet without it becoming part of a career path. How many men can fix their own cars but have never fixed another person's car for money? Cooking? Taking photos? Holly can do some GREAT stuff with a camera and a cheap outdated version of Photoshop Elements. She did these herself—took the photos herself and manipulated the images beautifully. (Click them for more images and details.) I don't care whether she ever makes a career of it. I do show her cool photos I find in magazines or books or online, though.
She enjoys it, she does it to share with her friends on MySpace, she learned it gradually, by experimentation, and by learning different tricks from others. She has surpassed me and Marty in her use of that program, which cost me $80 just as it was obsolete because a new version was out. There are other photo manipulation programs, though, and some free online. What we have is Photoshop Elements 2.0
Don't worry about what kids choose to do. Make sure they have lots of choices, and don't discriminate between what you think might be career path and what might "only" be joyful activity and self-expression, or what might seem to be nothing more than relaxation or escapism. Let them choose and be and do.
People have complained that their kids have watched videos of OTHER kids playing video games.
Those parents have probably watched videos of others playing golf, or bowling, or painting, playing baseball or tennis, dancing, running, ice-skating, cooking, sewing, fighting (fists/feet/swords/whatever), hunting or fishing or hiking, climbing, skating, skateboarding, skiing, repairing toilets, caulking tile, fixing hair, putting on make-up, inducing dogs to do tricks, riding horses, photographing wildlife, digging up fossils, decorating cakes, telling stories or jokes, singing, playing musical instruments, building musical instruments out of wood, or vegetables...
You can go there and read, but some of the comments there or in an unschooling discussion, same week, are:
Sylvia Woodman:
I have whiled away many happy hours/sleepless nights watching other people crochet, knit, embroider....sometimes they are speaking other languages while they do it. Very soothing.
I watch people play guitar for the purpose of learning how to play a song I do not already know how to play. I am a visual learner.
I LOVE that there are videos showing people how to play particular songs or riffs, though! We used to teach each other in person, when I was a kid, or figure things out off of records, moving the arm back again and again (before the days of "rewind" or repeat, or anything convenient!!) 🙂
Sandra Dodd I used to do that too. I had in person lessons with five or so people. Some of them were not a good teacher for my problems. I now do a similar thing with YouTube, rewinding it the part I need to watch and listen to repeatedly. I get to choose the teacher and I save money also. 🙂
I mean, there are whole channels for adults dedicated to watching other people do things (hgtv, diy, tlc, etc) so I never understood this “complaint”.
That gave me a new slant thank you.
I am going through this at the moment. I was being judgmental about (mostly my 5yr old) watching videos of other kids playing video games. Now it does seem silly I was thinking of it in a negative context.
In South Korea, I have heard, there's a tv channel that only shows people playing baduk (go).
That's not nearly as exciting as watching someone play a video game! But for those who are learning baduk, it's probably extremely helpful for them to be able to watch good players without joining a club or team, or going to a public place. They can do it from home, while they do other things.
Pretty great.
If you want a peek, some of these best-ofs (I guess) do have English subtitles.
You can subscribe to watch new feed directly here.... just in case someone wanted to.바둑TV BADUK TV
| 2024 note from Sandra: One site I had linked then isn't maintained now, and they recommended the same youtube link. |
Baduk TV (바둑 TV; BTV) is a Korean 24-hour, go television channel owned by CJ. It airs go programming, including live professional game commentary, game review, workshops, and more.
Commentators often show variations by digitally super-imposing stones onto the board of a game, making it easier to follow.
Someone (facebook friend of mine, and some of yours), commenting on something her husband was watching (but she did watch it with him):I can watch "the making of..." videos, of... videos. Movies. TV shows. Some people don't care.
[it was about a knife-forging competition]
My husband can watch news after news show, then foreign news, then commentary particular to our state. I can't.
We still love each other. 🙂
While you're understanding your children's interests, and getting over any initial embarrassment about your own, remember to have compassion and understanding toward other adults in your life, and what they are learning by watching.
I watch other people exercise. On YouTube. On Instagram.
I'm trying to work on my own strength and fitness, and watching other post-menopausal women both inspires me and helps me find things to do in my own routine.
Often, for one reason or another, I can't do the things they do, but I like to watch them anyway, and sometimes I use it as ideas that I can modify and work on myself 🙂
I've no interest in starting a career as a fitness instructor though!
I found an answer I wrote to a question [in 2007]:
The question, written, after a conference in Minnesota:
My son spends a lot of his time playing video games. I have accepted that this is his passion... and maybe very well play a part in his career path. but lately he's also been watching videos of other people playing video games on YouTube! Please help me see a reason that this is not just a waste of time... I know you'll have a good way to look at this latest passion.
My response:
Musicians watch videos of other musicians. Athletes watch videos of other athletes. Chess players have even been known to watch other people play chess with something approaching awe and rapture. Woodworkers watch woodworking shows. Cooks watch cooking shows. Dancers watch better dancers and learn like crazy!
Speaking of musicians, I've played a LOT of piano, and guitar in my life. I play recorder better than I play either of those, and have played formally (sonatas) and informally (by ear, in the dark, at campfires). I sing, lots of styles, can harmonize in different styles... LOTS of music. NOT a career path for me. It's a very large part of the way I see/hear/experience the world, but my "career path" had to do more with writing and learning (learning about how people learn).
Lots of people knit or crochet without it becoming part of a career path. How many men can fix their own cars but have never fixed another person's car for money? Cooking? Taking photos? Holly can do some GREAT stuff with a camera and a cheap outdated version of Photoshop Elements. She did these herself—took the photos herself and manipulated the images beautifully. (Click them for more images and details.) I don't care whether she ever makes a career of it. I do show her cool photos I find in magazines or books or online, though.
[Then there are three photos, but I can only put one in a comment. They're the same three of Holly, at the top of this page.]
She enjoys it, she does it to share with her friends on MySpace, she learned it gradually, by experimentation, and by learning different tricks from others. She has surpassed me and Marty in her use of that program, which cost me $80 just as it was obsolete because a new version was out. There are other photo manipulation programs, though, and some free online. What we have is Photoshop Elements 2.0
Don't worry about what kids choose to do. Make sure they have lots of choices, and don't discriminate between what you think might be career path and what might "only" be joyful activity and self-expression, or what might seem to be nothing more than relaxation or escapism. Let them choose and be and do.
SandraDodd.com/mha#watching
Focus, Hobbies, Obsessions
Again, again!
Seeing
