5/12/2015

Your 6-Month-Old Baby May Use Your Smartphone To Tweet - Forbes

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TJ
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(http://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/) Contributor

Passionate about tech: 3D to Cloud to Gadgets

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5/06/2015 @ 1:40PM

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Your 6-Month-Old Baby May Use

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Before some children can even walk, they are using

smartphones and tablets. Some are even making
phone calls, according to a new study shows that children under two years of
age are getting greater access to mobile devices.
The surprising data was revealed in a survey of 370 parents of children, aged
six months to four years, who completed a questionnaire at the Einstein
Medical Center Philadelphia by Hilda Kabali, MD, a third-year pediatrics
resident.

Is your child about to post a photo to Facebook or send a tweet? Read this
post. (https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?
url=http%3A%2F%2Fonforb.es%2F1F65xMK&text=Is%20your%20child%20about%20to%20post%20a%20photo%20to%
Many studies have been done on digital natives, those born after 1980, and
how their access to technology, to the internet, to devices is unprecedented.
What is still relatively unknown is the impact of very early use of mobile
screens will have on children. See below for how the Digital Native term got its
start.

(AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

Dr. Robert Glatter, Forbes contributor, cites the American Academy of

Pediatrics (AAP) 2011 policy on the use of electronic media: actually
recommended against the use of electronic media in toddlers under 2 years of

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5/12/2015

Your 6-Month-Old Baby May Use Your Smartphone To Tweet - Forbes

age, warning against possible negative effects on cognitive development, due

toabsence of evidence to promote educational growth. His 2014 post is linked
in the left sidebar.
There are plenty of studies that show the impact of television on young minds;
thats why the AAP made its recommendations. However, the mobile screen
study from Einstein Medical Center itself makes no recommendations for
limiting use. All the guidelines we have are based on TV, with the
recommendation that viewing be limited to two hours as day, Dr. Kabali said.
But most children arent spending time on TV any more. Theyre using
tablets and smartphones. You can read more about Dr. Kabalis study here:
Toddler Tweets? Maybe Not So Far Off
(http://www.einstein.edu/news/toddler-tweets-maybe-not-so-far-off/). The
full results are here (http://www.abstracts2view.com/pas/view.php?
nu=PAS15L1_1165.3). She does give recommendations in her summary post,
which, as youd expect, is to limit screen time and to keep your kids active in
other pursuits.
In a conversation with an occupational therapist last year, and of course I
realize this is a limited anecdote, he told me that his young son was struggling
with using a pencil and catching a ball. To restate it: His hand coordination
was diminishing. He attributed it to a bit too much smartphone and tablet
time and reduced that time while increasing physical dexterity exercises.
As a technology product reviewer, my office is often filled with gadgets and
devices. So I am pretty optimistic about tech and its uses, however, we limited
our sons access to screens (and still do, much to his dismay). I want my childs
brain to develop without screens. There are solid arguments that state the
opposite of studies like this one, but I think I would prefer that my children
not tweet or post for me.
-In case you are curious, as I am, about how and where the termdigital
nativefirst appeared. It was coined and popularized by education
consultant,Marc Prensky (http://marcprensky.com/)in his 2001 article
entitledDigital Natives, Digital Immigrants. Wikipedia
I spent 8+ months traveling the USA in 2014 researching 3D printing, 3D
scanning, and 3D design. I also write about the cloud, gadgets, gear. Follow
me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/tjmccue).
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