FAO Scooter : Toddlers and Electronics

My 21-month-old grandson likes playing with our cell phones and iPods. He knows the buttons to push to turn them on. He swipes his finger across the screen to view different screens. He clicks on icons to access programs. He learned all this simply by watching us.

To keep him from inadvertently calling or texting people in our contact lists, my daughter and I have been searching for toddler apps to keep him occupied. When I did a search for Toddler Games Free on my cell phone and iPod, the list included lots of free apps. I downloaded just a couple - I could have spent days looking at them all. My current favorite is Toddlers Trifling, an Android app that offers several different options including matching colors, counting objects, touching images to hear their sounds, and touching bubbles to pop them.

Because of his curiosity and rapid learning on digital devices, I wondered what research had been done about toddlers and media, specifically interactive digital apps. What I found is that there's not much research out there on the effects of interactive digital apps on toddlers. There is decades-worth of research on the effects of TV/video media on toddlers, but that is primarily focused on sedentary, non-interactive activity.

All of the pediatric experts advise against allowing children under the age of 2 to have too much screen-time. Screen-time includes watching television, playing video games, going on a computer, and accessing programs on other electronic screens, such as cell phones, iPods, and tablets (like iPads.) But all of these experts are speaking from the research on the effects of non-interactive screen-time. As children watch TV or movies, play many video games, and do other screen activities, they are primarily sitting and watching or listening. Too much of this sedentary observation has negative effects on the brain, physical, and social development of children. So the recommendations are "No screens in bedrooms" and "Fire the electronic babysitter."

With the growing app (digital applications) industry, however, electronics are now interactive. When my grandson gets into Toddlers Trifling, he can pop bubbles, touch images and hear their sounds, match colors and shapes, count objects, draw with his finger on the screen, and play memory matching games. So I wondered if the screen-time taboos included these interactive features. While there's no definitive research on this topic, I did find a couple of interviews about Sound Advice on Media at HealthyChildren.org.

Electronic media is here to stay...and will continue to grow. Our children are "wired" to live in our digitally-immersed culture. Even if infants and toddlers are not directly using electronics, they are surrounded by digital media in their homes. We parents and grandparents are using cell phones, computers, iPods, iPads and other tablets. Our children model what they see, so it is natural for a toddler to want to use the same electronic devices he sees his parents and grandparents using.

I liked the advice Dr Don Shifrin offered in his interview on Sound Advice on Media. He said that "parents are their children's guides through the digital landscape," and so they need to practice the three M's: Model behavior, Monitor their children and their activities, and Mediate to correct behavior if necessary.

Our children are more likely to mirror how we adults act than to do what we tell them to do. So we parents and grandparents need to MODEL the behaviors we want our children to mirror. This behavior includes using digital media. We need to ask ourselves if how and when we use digital media is appropriate for how our children will use the technology.

As our children mirror our behavior, we need to MONITOR that they are doing so appropriately. Children are naturally curious and not afraid to try new things. We need to watch over them to ensure that they are staying safe.

If our children begin to use technology inappropriately, we need to MEDIATE to correct their behavior. When mediating, it's important to remember that when we say "No" to something, our children are more likely to want to do that thing, so we need to explain why behavior is appropriate or not appropriate and offer positive re-direction as necessary.

As with anything else in our lives, we need to maintain a healthy balance of media use in our lives and the lives of our children. Interactive digital media can be fun and educational, but playing with pots and pans on the floor of the kitchen can be just as fun and valuable. We need to make sure our children have a healthy balance of intellectual stimulation, physical activity, social interaction, and spiritual inspiration no matter the media/toys with which they are playing.