The daily regular use of touchscreen devices is now a normal part of life. The ease of slipping an ipad, ipod or other device into your handbag means more of us are using them as a distraction for our kids, ahead of books or colouring pens. But is it a good idea to replace reading and drawing with apps, even the educational ones? And are those apps really benefiting our children?
To deduce this, a team from the Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York conducted research which looked at the relationship between touchscreen device use and cognitive development in children aged 3 and under.
“We have observed in our neonatal clinic that the number one ‘toy’ parents are giving their toddlers are smart phones,” described Dr Ruth Milanaik, lead author of the study and an attending developmental and behavioural physician at the Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York in New Hyde Park.
“It was striking to see that parents were substituting books and general baby toys for smart phones. Many parents did not seem to bring any other distraction for their children except the touch screen devices.”
Of the 65 families that took part in the study, 63 owned a touchscreen device, the average age of their children when they started using the device was 11 months, and used them for an average period of 36 minutes a day.
While most of the children enjoyed using educational apps (26%), 30% watched educational shows, 14% played non-educational games, while 28% pressed buttons aimlessly.
The study findings revealed that although there was no significant difference in testing scores between children who played on touchscreen devices and those that didn’t, the children that played on non-educational games recorded lower verbal scores on development tests.
In spite of these findings, 60% of the parents believed their children benefitted from the educational apps on their devices.
“Technology can never replace a parent’s interaction with his or her child. Just talking to your child is the best way to encourage learning” Dr Milanaik said.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
