More than half of the young children in the U.S. now have access to an iPad, iPhone or similar touch-screen device. For parents, their children's love of these devices raises a lot of questions.
Kids for years have sat too close to the television for too long or played hours of Madden on family room game players. But pediatric neuroscientists and researchers who have studied the effects of screen-time on children suggest the iPad is a different beast.
A young child will look away from a TV screen 150 times an hour, says Daniel Anderson, a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Massachusetts. His studies over the past 30 years also showed children have trouble knowing where on a TV screen to look.
A well-designed iPad app is more engaging because often the place on the screen that a child touches is the same as where the action happens.
Many researchers hope this will help children learn. One study using an iPod Touch and sponsored by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop found children 4- to 7-years-old improved on a vocabulary test after using an educational app called "Martha Speaks." The 13 5-year-olds tested averaged a 27 percent gain. A study using a different educational app had a similar result, with 3-year-olds exhibiting a 17 percent gain.
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In many ways, the average toddler using an iPad is a guinea pig. While the iPad went on sale two years ago, rigorous, scientific studies of how such a device affects the development of young children typically take three to five years.
There is "little research on the impact of technology like this on kids," says Dimitri Christakis, director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children's Hospital.
The iPad and similar devices allow children to interact with technology at a younger age than ever before. Tiny fingers not yet old enough to manipulate a mouse or operate a videogame console can navigate a tablet touch screen.
"Unfortunately a lot of the real-life experimentation is going to be done by parents who now have young kids," says Glenda Revelle, associate professor of human development and family sciences at the University of Arkansas.
What SheSays: It's true an iPad can likely help your toddler improve his or her vocabulary and other skills. But like us adults, they also need a break from the gadgets.
How much time do you let your toddler spend on an iPad or similar device? Tell us at shesays@forumcomm.com or on Facebook.com/forumshesays.
