Nearly 40% of Kids Under 2 Years Old Interact With Smartphones, According To Their Parents (sherwood.news) 33
An anonymous reader shares a report: On Wednesday, Pew Research Center published a survey assessing how parents in the US with children under 12 manage their kids' screen time, which revealed that 61% of respondents overall reported their child ever uses or interacts with smartphones -- including 38% of those with children under 2 years old.
Much of this smartphone screen time is likely made up by parents streaming kid-friendly cartoons for their little ones to watch on the go: the study also found that YouTube use among children under 2 has risen sharply from 45% to 62% over the last five years. But it appears that most American toddlers only need to wait a few years before they can get devices of their very own. The same survey showed that almost one in four US parents overall allow their children aged 12 and under to have their own smartphones, and this ballooned to nearly 60% when just looking at kids aged 11-12 years old.
Much of this smartphone screen time is likely made up by parents streaming kid-friendly cartoons for their little ones to watch on the go: the study also found that YouTube use among children under 2 has risen sharply from 45% to 62% over the last five years. But it appears that most American toddlers only need to wait a few years before they can get devices of their very own. The same survey showed that almost one in four US parents overall allow their children aged 12 and under to have their own smartphones, and this ballooned to nearly 60% when just looking at kids aged 11-12 years old.
We need artificial intelligence (Score:2)
Because natural intelligence is on the decline.
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Your comment makes me suspect that you've never had children.
There are times when new parents desperately need *something* to distract their kids. It can literally be as basic as needing some sleep.
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So, you are saying that you sleep while your toddler is awake and doing something?
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Sounds like you also haven't had children.
Yes indeed, a young parent is very happy to let their child play contentedly while they catch a bit of sleep.
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On the contrary, it's obvious to everyone here that you haven't raised children. If you're sleeping while a toddler is active and awake, that's neglect. Full stop. It takes seconds for a young child to go from "playing contentedly" to "at risk of death or serious injury". Anyone who has actually raised children knows this.
Quit pretending you know the first thing about raising children. It's gross.
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What's this sleep you speak of?
Parents get absolutely WRECKED when they have young children. And many adults never return to their original sleep schedule, even when their children are basically all grown up. (I mean when do kids move out these days, 40 or 50 years old?)
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Why can't today's parents do what my generation did. Give us a sip of beer to help the baby go nighty-night? (a little whiskey for teething babies has been popular in my family for generations)
I mean, parents are just trying to get by. they certainly have no intention of harming their own children.
Or, instead of acting like an absolute fool. We could look carefully at what we do to the next generation and provide some guidelines and tools that parents can actually use.
Because I assure you, smartphones, tabl
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"Provide some guidelines and tools."
That would be great, if "experts" could actually agree on some guidelines and tools. Ask 10 experts, and you'll get 10 answers.
What tools (besides beer) do you suggest?
I agree that smartphones, tablets, and the internet is harmful *in large doses.* But nobody is suggesting that these children are getting "large doses." Just that they are getting *some* smart phone use. I do *not* agree that *all* smartphone, table, and internet use is harmful to young children. Moderation
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Ask an old person that has kids and then listen. Screw the experts. How many of them even have kids? My grandmother would be an infinitely better person to ask then some so called childless expert. She raised 4 successful children.
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I do *not* agree that *all* smartphone, table, and internet use is harmful to young children.
That's only because you're really, really, stupid. Those things are addictive. You might as well claim that "not *all* black tar heroine is harmful to young children".
Ask 10 experts, and you'll get 10 answers.
Bullshit. If you weren't completely uninformed or generally incompetent, you wouldn't trot out that tired old nonsense. Stop posting. You're wasting everyone's time.
Wait until you find out how many watch TV (Score:2, Interesting)
I think it was comic books when my parents were alive but there's always something rotting the children's brains
It's like how the ruling elite use various forms of bigotry in order to divide working people into castes that they can control. In America we use race a
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This is the exact same fear mongering I had when I was a kid about TV and my grandparents got this fear-mongering about penny dreadfuls (I'm American so they called it pulp but I love the phrase Penny dreadful so that's what I'm going with). I think it was comic books when my parents were alive but there's always something rotting the children's brains
I get what you're saying, but I think there are some things you're missing. First, when we were kids - and this is also true for kids over the next few decades after that - passive pacification was the exception rather than the rule. Sure, we may have been plunked in front of the TV sometimes. But when we were out in the world - whether at school, in cars, in stores, at the playground, taking walks, etc. - we weren't viewing and listening to advertising and other forms of propaganda. Yes, there are similari
Man you must have let a charmed life (Score:1)
Lots and lots of kids got stuck in front of the TV for hours and hours on end with nothing else.
YouTube and tick tock aren't really interactive they're just tv. Posting to a forum isn't interaction. If anything the kids are better off today because they at least have discord and chat and can actuall
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This isn't just hand-wringing over something new. The data is in. Smartphones and tablets are demonstrably harmful to young children.
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I get your point, but I'd say that TikTok and YouTube are 'passively interactive'. That is, they take whatever (possibly transient) interest you have and give you more More MORE. That can create some fixation which otherwise wouldn't have existed, or deny some other interest that might have been pursued.
TV stations didn't know when you changed the channel, what you changed it to, or whether you were watching or just had it on in the background. Today's more interactive sources have a greater and more effect
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And then you have people making a distinction between the quality of books. Basically think of the mass market paperbacks you see it's supermarkets but make that market much larger since there was no TV or Internet yet. That kind of stuff really upsets certain people.
They also complained about radio programs. Basically every New Media format has a huge pushback because the people
Bad signs to come. (Score:2)
Smarthome enters the chat
Now a child will learn to open a door by swiping up. Heaven forbid they encounter a door knob.. What's a doorknob? said the little Apple girl.
What're they doing?! (Score:2)
Posting pictures of their juice boxes and glazed carrots to their instagram?!
More seriously, was out at a semi-nice place for dinner last week and the number of kids and their parents carrying around pads and tablets to keep the little ones entertained... instead of teaching them how to socialize at dinners just seems sad. And yeah, I was a pre-ipad kid and remember being bored silly but it also encouraged me to try to get involved in the adults conversation.
To a lesser extent we have the same problem as a
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-yes that's a movie.
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" I was a pre-ipad kid and remember being bored silly but it also encouraged me to try to get involved in the adults conversation."
And if they are the type to say "Go sit in the corner and keep your mouth closed. The grownups are talking."? :-/
Not smartphones but... (Score:1)
Our kids (under 12yo) have their own Android tablets but their daily screentime is closely monitored and limited. Both kids stream YouTube Kids videos and our oldest also plays Minecraft on his.
Neither kid has their own phone or is able to access general web browsing on their tablets.
So? (Score:2)
So? My 8 week old kitten interacts with smartphones. Catches mice. Also speed dials random contacts.
Smartphone panic (Score:3)
whitelist (Score:2)
>"But it appears that most American toddlers only need to wait a few years before they can get devices of their very own"
And what percentage of those devices given to children are locked-down to a very restrictive whitelist of apps/sites/communication? 5%? 1%?
Handing a minor unsupervised access to an unrestricted, internet-connected device should be considered child abuse.
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Handing a minor unsupervised access to an unrestricted, internet-connected device should be considered child abuse.
I wouldn't say "in all cases", but you'll find a few examples above where that sort of thing is very clearly child abuse / neglect. One moron thinks you can hand a child under the age of three a smartphone and leave them unsupervised while you take a nap!