While I have seen many other kids be completely fine with screen time (TV, movies, gaming, etc.), it has a negative effect on our son unless we severely limit his access.
However, he is very talented with computer work in general. It didn't take him long to master basic programs like word processing and spreadsheets. Several years ago, he learned ALICE (a simple object oriented language for kids) and then jumped into Visual Basic with both feet. Now, he is fairly compentent in VB and can create basic programs for lots of purposes. He also loves Lego Mindstorms NXT and would probably be classified as "advanced" based on camps he's attended with actively-competing teams.
I think that gaming time can be separated from understanding programming. Our son has been working on designing a computer version of a board game that he created, and he gets a lot of enjoyment out of troubleshooting and figuring out how to make the game better from a user perspective.
