The New York Time – Catherine Saint Louis
A small survey of parents in Philadelphia found that three-quarters of their children had been given tablets, smartphones or iPods of their own by age 4 and had used the devices without supervision, researchers reported on Monday.
The survey was not nationally representative and relied on self-reported data from parents. But experts say the surprising result adds to growing evidence that the use of electronic devices has become deeply woven into the experience of childhood.
Dr. Michael Rich, the director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Boston Children’s Hospital, said he suspected that exposure to mobile devices among children elsewhere “is not all that different” from what was described by the parents in Philadelphia.
“Based on my observations of families with whom I work, I would not be surprised if these levels of device ownership and use were similar in many families,” he said.
According to a nationwide survey by Common Sense Media, 72 percent of children 8 or younger used a mobile device in 2013, for example, compared with 38 percent in 2011.
It was not clear how often the parents had bequeathed old devices as digital hand-me-downs or had bought new ones.
“That’s huge,” said Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a professor of psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia, who was not involved in the survey, which was published in the journal Pediatrics. “If children are sitting by themselves glued to digital candy, we simply don’t know what the consequences are for their early social development.”
In the survey, 350 parents, who were largely low-income African-Americans, filled out a questionnaire while visiting Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia.
One-third of the parents of 3- and 4-year-olds said their children liked to use more than one device at the same time, noted Dr. Hilda Kabali, a pediatrician and the lead author of the survey.
Seventy percent of the parents reported allowing their children, ages 6 months to 4 years old, to play with mobile devices while the parents did housework, and 65 percent said they had done so to placate a child in public.
A quarter of the parents said they left children with devices at bedtime, although bright screens disrupt sleep. “They are putting their child to sleep in an environment that keeps them from going to sleep,” Dr. Rich said.
According to the parents, nearly half of the children younger than 1 used a mobile device daily to play games, watch videos or use apps. Most 2-year-olds used a tablet or smartphone daily.
by MindMake via MindMake Blog
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