Making Media: The No-Screens Loophole

For a lot of kids, creating media can be as fun as consuming it. My 4th grader loves making and sharing videos, and little brother E (and the rest of us) love to go along for the ride. He uses iMovie to put them together, and then posts them on YouTube after we review and give him the go-ahead.

C is a Dude Perfect fanatic, so capturing trick shots has been a common theme in our family videos. Typically the videos have brought together a motley (but impressive, IMHO) mix of trick shots; last week’s Breakfast at Our House was our foray into themes. Other family videos feature our competitive spirits at their very best (so says an undefeated bubble-blowing champion). Now more than ever, while other options are so limited, putting these together is a favorite way to spend time together.

In Week 1 of schools being closed, trick shots made their way into C’s virtual playdates, which I loved but would have had a hard time predicting or even imagining. I hoped making videos remotely with friends would become a regular thing, but since then Fortnite has come to dominate C’s screen time with his buddies (I’m uneasy about this, given that we don’t even let a Nerf gun into our house). Fortunately, ideas for making media continue to pop up and inspire action, as you can see in this exercise video the kids made last week after seeing one from their PE teacher.

Like many parents, I want to limit the time my kids spend in front of screens, and I want to positively influence what they’re doing when they are using them. When it comes to creating media, time restrictions are waived-- a phenomenon that C has aptly called “the no-screens loophole.”

Perhaps up next: the kids have been intent on breaking a Guinness World Record. So far I’ve successfully steered them away from their initial proposal...

…Whatever record they commit to will no doubt be media-worthy, so I guess we can consider this a To Be Continued...