Tablet a day keeps hi-tech, modern children at play
AS thousands of parents travelled to get away for the Easter holidays this weekend, most will have wondered how best to entertain their children on the journey.
According to new research, the most popular solution these days is to give them a tablet or smartphone loaded with games.
More than 80% of 5 000 British parents recently contacted by researchers for Disney admitted to handing a child an iPad or equivalent to stifle boredom on long journeys.
Up to an hour’s peace and quiet could be secured by packing a tablet, more than half of the parents questioned said.
But the trend has led to concerns about the impact of the devices on children’s development.
The Association of Teachers and Lecturers in the UK has warned that some older children are now unable to complete traditional pen-and-paper exams because their memory had been eroded by overexposure to screen-based technology.
Many children aged just three or four can “swipe a screen”, but they have little or no dexterity in their fingers after spending hours glued to iPads, and videos showing toddlers confused by magazines that they think are touch screens make worrying viewing on YouTube.
Disney’s research suggests that more than two-thirds of children now ask to play on tablets and smartphones while travelling compared with only 50% who ask for sweets and snacks.
The survey was commissioned to launch a new free games app for children, Disney Junior Play, which the company claims encourages creativity and logical thinking, quoting studies that show “a measurable increase in cognitive function as a result of engagement with certain apps and games”.
DVD players are another popular way of keeping those in the passenger seats quiet and in-car DVD sales have grown in the past few years.
In a 2010 study, 28 families were given the following five devices:
A PSP Go hand-held console or an iPod Touch, both of which can play games; ý A portable DVD player; ý A Nintendo DSi, another games console;
A netbook, a small laptop that can play films; and
An iPod Nano, a device that plays music as well as videos.
The families drove for 500 hours testing the gadgets.
Video gaming technology won, with the PSP Go and iPod Touch keeping children amused for the longest, a full three-and-a-half hours.
Eye Spy was deemed the best traditional game to play, but it managed to entertain for only half an hour.
When that fails, Lou Archell, a mother and blogger at Little Green Shed, recommends Top Trumps, snacks and books, preferably ones with stickers in them. — © The