NYTimes.com blog article on "Screen Addiction" and the psychological effects of electronic multimedia exposure on children.
it would be a very bad idea to prohibit your children from using media devices entirely for at least two reasons.
1) they're absolutely going to need to know how these devices work, what they do, and how to use them if you intend for them to have any job more responsible than municipal speed bump. cutting kids off from electronics and the things they do would be equivalent to having put them in a wheelchair instead of letting them learn to walk. you wouldn't have done that, would you?
2) you don't live alone on this planet, tech toys are cool, and children have poor judgement about people's motives. so where would you rather your kids play x-box: your living room, or the mancave of some suddenly present Mr. Cool Guy from the Community Center or Church Youth Group or Summer Sports Camp or wherever else might have something of a reputation for being a traditional pedophile hunting ground? entertainment is something you have to provide for your children, if not for their psychological well-being, then at least because if you don't, someone who doesn't care about their well-being at all will.
people talk a lot of crap about the schools, but your kids' teachers really do know an awful lot about kids in general, how kids learn, your kid in particular, and what works best to motivate him or her to learn. call your kids' school at about three pm on any school day and ask to speak to their teacher about how to turn the rules you have for their electronics use into an experience that will make them better adults.
remember, that's the goal.
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