I think it's pretty obvious the Maine paradigm is the way to go. I think peter_l_downs (1) and GigabyteCoin (2) and are on to something: games get boring. Video is the biggest problem.

I have two kids, 10 and 7, and a slightly obscene number of computers.

* They each have OLPC laptops, which they have no interest in. Occasionally, I'll dig one out to show them how they can manipulate the programs, but they quickly tire. No news there.

* We have a Touchpad and an iPad.

The TouchPad charges in the master bathroom, and is basically an extremely fancy radio for NPR in the morning and the kids use it as a Pandora radio in the afternoon. Please get CyanogenMod 9 stable on TouchPad. Please.

The iPad has games and sometimes has Netflix installed. I generally uninstall Netflix unless there's some compelling reason, like a road trip, to install it. But my wife has fairly well commandeered it as an e-book reader. We read e-books to kids before bed (eg, Nim's Island), which has proved a to be one way to condition the kids to understand the iPad is useful for something other than games. But, overall, if Netflix isn't installed, they mainly use it to play Pandora.

* They have access to two older, larger Dell laptops (dual and single core, 15" and 17", respectively) running Ubuntu, one in the spare room, one in serves as the main living room stereo, with Spotify piped to a big old Denon receiver. They occasionally use that one for music or the web; that's about it. There are probably a hundred games installed, they don't play them.

* We have a 27" iMac. They often use that for look-ups, occasionally a movie on the weekends, and occasionally some flash games. Whenever I see them playing flash games in the browser, I quietly ssh in and point that domain to localhost. The next time they visit, the browser errors out, and they move on. They also now use it to interact with the school's BlackBoard account (kill me now, please)

* There is a dual-monitor, two-CPU Dell in the garage, cobbled out of spare parts, running Ubuntu Studio, complete with condenser mic and keyboard.

We enforce a few rules

(1) No video or gaming during the day or school nights. The only exception is long trips.

(2) Sneaking off to your room with the iPad to watch video will result in the iPad being put in timeout, usually for several hours.

(3) Arguing over the iPad will similarly result in the iPad being put in timeout, even on trips.

Overall, the fantastically, overwhelmingly most common use of a computing device is music. The rest a 5-10% items. That is almost certainly due to the fact that we fight video and keep them otherwise engaged (Thing 1 is in gymnastics, Thing 2 is in piano, and rock climbs while Thing 1 is in gymnastics).

I will probably buy an iPad 3. I don't envision taking it to work. If CyanogenMod doesn't get stable on the TouchPad, I have considered buying two of the iPad 3s, but controlling what's on them.

So, again, I agree with the commenters who have observed from their own experience that young people are evaluating the utility of their tech just like the rest of us. If something's boring, or they are never exposed to it, they don't do it. Games and video are the lowest common denominator. It takes time to read. It takes time to do gymnastics and rock climbing and piano. We have to create a society where parents can and are encouraged, incentivized, to spend that time on their kids. Can Zynga get parents to spend more time with their kids?

(1) http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3590627
(2) http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3590416