The disturbing truth about what tablets are doing to children
BEFORE Rachel and Simon Davenport bought their son Conor a tablet computer last Christmas they debated whether, at the age of four, he was too young for one.
However, within a few months, and with their 18-month-old younger son Charlie screaming to be allowed a turn, they bought one for him, too. Now, in a situation familiar to mums and dads everywhere, the devices that the couple hoped would bring an extra dimension to their sons’ play have become the only ‘toys’ they are interested in.
‘Charlie is young enough to distract with other things,’ says Rachel, a full-time mum from Stoke-on-Trent. ‘If I allowed it, Conor would be on his every waking moment.’ So the Davenports were not at all surprised by recent figures from market research firm Childwise showing that a third of under-fives now have their own tablet.
‘I try to restrict Conor’s use to a couple of hours a day,’ says Rachel. ‘ But when I tell him to come off, he refuses, answering back to everything I say.’
Worryingly, Rachel fears that Conor’s tablet use may not only be affecting him mentally and emotionally, but physically, too.
Now five and in his second year at primary school, Conor is struggling with writing despite having the reading age of a six-year-old.
Teachers have told Rachel, 33, and Simon, 37, a joiner, that Conor’s fine motor skills are under-developed.
Staff have been encouraging him to do exercises to strengthen muscles that help him hold a pencil. These include playing with stickers and moulding play dough, pas times which were enjoyed by previous generations without question.
‘The pincer grip required to hold a pencil uses muscles that don’t come into play when swiping or tapping a screen, but do with more dextrous activities,’ says Sally Blythe, a psychologist specialising in children’ s physical development.
‘The eye-hand coordination that writing requires is different from using a screen. You have to be able to hold a pen and move from left to right.’
For those who believe typing could soon replace writing, Ms Blythe issues a word of warning. A kinaesthetic approach to learning — mastering something through engaging muscles — is far more effective at lodging the skill in the brain.
‘If you write a list rather than typing it, you’re more likely to remember it,’ she says.
Conor’s teachers have asked his parents to entice him to do things that require dexterity, such as old-fashioned pursuits such as playing with bricks and toy cars.
‘When Conor went into year one he’d come home upset and say, “I can’t write. I don’t know how to hold the pencil”,’ recalls Rachel. ‘When the teachers talked about the sorts of activities he needed to do, I realised he was more interested in screens than this sort of play.
‘He has improved, which is good. He didn’t like not being capable of something most of his classmates could do.’
But Rachel also worries that Conor’s fascination with screens may be affecting his eyesight. ‘He asks for books to be brought closer when we read,’ she says. ‘There are about five children in his class who wear glasses. I don’t remember there being such a high proportion when I was that age.’ If Conor does need glasses, it wouldn’t be a great surprise. Opticians in Britain are reporting a rise in young children being prescribed glasses for short-sightedness.
While most diagnoses of myopia used to happen around puberty, rising numbers need glasses at younger ages. This has been put down to the time youngsters now spend staring at screens.
‘Children from better socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to be affected as they have more access to gadgets,’ says Joanne Hancox, a consultant in paediatrics at London’ s Moorfields Eye Hospital.
‘It’s also much more common in cities. One theory is that children who play outside are less likely to have myopia. Outside you have more cause to look into the distance, whereas indoors, you are more likely to be doing close-up activities.’ The worry is that if the eyes do a lot of close-up work while they are developing, they interpret near- sightedness as the norm and become less efficient at looking into the distance.
Statistically, the earlier you are diagnosed with myopia, the more short-sighted you are likely to become.
Kirsty Meredith ,42, from Bradfield, Essex, fears the deterioration in her nine-year-old son Conwy’s vision is down to time spent on his iPad, which he’s had since he was six.
Kirsty, who works in sales for a photographic firm, took him for an eye test when he started getting headaches. The optician diagnosed short-sightedness.
‘He said it could be down to Conwy’s use of tablets and advised restricting screen time,’ says Kirsty. ‘It’s not easy. The moment he wakes up, he’s asking for it.’
Kirsty also fears that the iPad may have affected Conwy’s handwriting, which is still very messy.
‘He doesn’t seem to want to put the effort in to form neat letters,’ she says. ‘He complains that his hand hurts.’ While Kirsty and Conwy’s dad, John, are aware of the need to do more physical activities, such as riding his bike, they dread the confrontations. ‘Even when I hide it, as soon as I’m distracted he’ll s witch on t he c omputer or PlayStation. Dr Richard House, a chartered psychologist and former early years teacher, says this response is rooted in addiction. ‘When humans are deprived of something, there are always withdrawal symptoms. Young children express this distress through their behaviour,’ says Dr House. ‘When I was a kindergarten teacher, when a child had been watching TV or playing computer games before coming into school their behaviour was more chaotic and antisocial.’
CLAIRE Parrott, 36, has first-hand experience of screen-induced tantrums courtesy of her five-year-old daughter, Tess.
The massage therapist, who lives with fiance Richard, 41, an associate director of a business rates company, and their other daughter Olivia, ei ght, in Timperley, Cheshire, finds Tess’s meltdowns hard to bear.
‘When I ban the i Pad as a punishment, she eventually wears me down, constantly begging. To be honest, there are times when I need to send emails or think clearly. The tablet is a useful way to keep her occupied.’ One compromise Claire made was to buy Tess a Kindle so she could still get a screen fix, but through reading. But she t ook little i nterest and continued to plead for the iPad. Olivia is l ess obsessed with screens and is happy drawing — a fact Claire puts down to her having reached the ripe old age of three, not one, like Tess, when Claire bought an iPad.
Claire’s latest ploy is to charge the battery so it lasts no longer than two hours. Thankfully, Tess hasn’t worked out how to charge it herself. And there are strict rules about playing on it close to bedtime.
‘She cannot properly switch off,’ says Claire. ‘On the occasions when I have hidden the iPad for a couple of days she’s calmer. But I don’t want to ban it altogether because technology is now so central in society. I wouldn’t want my daughters to be less proficient than everyone else.’
However, Dr House dismisses this concern.
‘There is evidence that children who are exposed to technology after developing other skills quickly become just as able, if not more, as t heir brains are more sophisticated.’