

A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad - thomasreggi
http://laughingsquid.com/a-2-5-year-old-uses-an-ipad-for-the-first-time/

======
gizmo
Stray observations:

1\. kids are awesome

2\. she only got frustrated once, and that was when she couldn't get back to
the home screen. With the hint "press the button; the big button" she felt in
control (and happy).

3\. By this point I'm thinking how I would simulate her investigative behavior
in software. It's not systematic, but it's oh so efficient.

4\. the confidence with which she dragged the letters to the "learn a word"
app. First hesitantly, a moment later she fully expected the scrabble block
under her finger to move along. You can spot the difference because she
stopped checking whether the letter would follow her finger, she _knew_ it
would.

5\. Confusion when she put her left hand on the edge of the iPad. This is
where the immersion breaks and she needed a hint to get back on track. In
fairness, most adults who try an iPhone for the first time make the same
mistake, if you can even call it that.

6\. The confidence with which the dad goes "Yup", knowing that she can't
possibly do any damage to the device.

7\. How she immediately goes into "piano mode" when a keyboard app appears on
screen.

8 . It surprises me that she makes the same mistakes most adults do when
trying a iPhone/iPad for the first time.

So much for my stray observations. Fascinating stuff.

~~~
DougBTX
I was about to comment on point 2, when I saw you covered it in point 5. I
imagine that the resting touch problem could be solved with software, the
iPhone keyboard for exams supports resting a finger on one key while you touch
the next. I was surprised that it didn't work on the home screen, eg, ignore
the touches from a resting hand.

~~~
gizmo
The glib answer is this: You have a problem. You solve it with heuristics. Now
you have two problems.

If I had to guess why Apple designed it this way? Here goes: Apple can't
determine what a resting hand is as an abstraction, because sometimes a
resting hand should do something (e.g. the pinch gesture; one static touch +
one moving finger). So app developers would each have to implement their own
heuristics to decide what's "probably" an accidental touch and what's
"probably" a deliberate (but sloppy) tap. Result: you won't be able to predict
anymore how the iPad will behave. That's far worse than having a predictable
but imperfect system.

~~~
fragmede
A good number of laptops I've tried have palm detection on their touch pads,
if the contact patch too big to be a finger, then it it is not a finger and it
is not a touch.

Probably wouldn't help in the case of a toddler's hands, but, as mentioned,
the hand-on-edge is something many have trouble with.

~~~
frederickcook
Agreed. There is an "ignore accidental trackpad input" option in my MacBook's
system preferences that I turned off for the first time a couple months ago,
thinking "I'm a pro with this thing, I'm sure I don't accidentally touch it."

Boy was I wrong, and I was really surprised at how sensitive the thing was.
After a couple minutes of the pointer jumping all over the place, I turned it
back on, impressed with the algorithm that had been ignoring those accidental
touches all along.

~~~
danudey
It's surprising how sensitive the capacitive sensor in Macbook trackpads can
be. I found an app once that gave a visual indication of where touch events
were occurring on the trackpad, and it can detect your finger before you're
actually touching the pad.

Of course, the software and hardware is calibrated to have a specific
threshold, but the fact that technology is commonplace that can detect when
something is near it is just amazing. A former roommate's Dell laptop did the
same thing - the controls on the side lit up when your finger got near it, so
you didn't have to fumble for the buttons OR deal with annoying LEDs all the
time.

This is part of the reason the iPhone always felt so fluid to me. I can flick
a list, barely even grazing the screen, and the list will spin like a slot
machine. It gives you such an immediate sense of powerful, accurate control
that it's very gratifying to use.

------
andreyf
My daughter learned to do all of the basic iPhone interaction --scroll between
home screens, launching, and quitting apps-- at around 19 months. Launching
apps was the most difficult part, as it took her awhile to learn to touch only
one part of the screen. It seems to me a brilliant testament to great UX
design.

While on the subject of judging things by the reactions of small children, the
first brand she recognized consistently is Google's - that includes the Google
logo, GMail, and a GTUG t-shirt [1] (although she calls them all "Googool").
It's probably because the sound is easy to pronounce, and because of the
distinct coloring, but it's still a little freaky, for a year and a half old
toddler.

1\. <http://roman.nurik.net/images/designs/gtug.png>

~~~
dsspence
Quick, get her reading Gogol.

------
frou_dh
The physical home button for bailing out when problems or boredom strike
certainly works well for her.

~~~
philwelch
And it's fast. Everyone complains it doesn't have multitasking, but is there
really a better way to switch apps that would be any faster than that even
with multitasking?

~~~
jrockway
People want multi-tasking for non-interactive tasks. They want to compose
email while streaming music, or browse the web while chatting on IRC. So
switching doesn't matter much; that's easy with or without multitasking.

~~~
glhaynes
Yeah, I think a lot of the quality of the debate is lost to the word
"multitasking".

"Backgrounding" seems much more descriptive of what is really desired by most
iPhone OS users (and non-users) who say they want "multitasking".

------
krainboltgreene
I'm getting one for my 3 year old daughter. She's never used a touch UI. She
has played some with my old laptop. I'll record the first interactions.

------
ssn
Clearly her previous iPhone experience was paramount.

~~~
adriand
This really can't be overemphasized. I have a child about the same age (two-
and-a-half) and he's been playing with my iPod Touch since I got it December
2008. He's proficient with it, just like her - able to easily navigate between
the different pages of apps, launch new apps, use the navigation within apps,
etc.

But obviously, it wasn't like that when he first used it. It took time. For
example, it took forever to teach him that if the hand that is holding it is
touching the screen a little bit, then it won't properly register new touch
events from the other hand. Eventually he just learned this, but it took a
long time.

The other thing to note is that children actually learn how to use computers
far more rapidly than you might think. It's not just devices like this, where
people will assume that it is the multi-touch and intuitive interface that
makes it easy for them to learn it. This helps, sure, but I was shocked when,
after a mere two hours or so of usage, my two-year-old had learned how to
navigate Flash games in a browser using the mouse. I was about to restart the
game he was playing by clicking through the menus but no, he grabbed the mouse
and did it himself, to my amazement.

Bottom-line: although I sense that many people will assume it is Apple's
superior design that is responsible for this child's proficiency, I think that
the combination of prior experience, plus the very quick learning abilities of
young children, is a more important factor.

~~~
stuff4ben
It's weird, my twins are almost 3 and they have yet to play with a computer
except the couple of times I had some Elmo episodes up on Youtube. Most of
their play comes with the old fashioned puzzles and dolls and other assorted
toys. I figured they wouldn't know what to do with a computer, but clearly I
need to revisit that. What kind of things can a 3 year old do with a computer?
I admit I haven't the foggiest idea of how to introduce a child to a computer.

~~~
ghotli
My two year olds cant get enough of this game:

Open up notepad. Maximize the window. Change the font to 72. Turn on caps
lock. Let them have free reign on the keyboard and tell them what letter they
are holding down. After about two months of this they are pretty proficient at
the keyboard and at their letters.

For mouse skills fullscreen Microsoft Paint. Same results.

~~~
hopeless
You need BabySmash... but it's mostly for younger kids. They hit keys and the
letters spin on the screen accompanied by fun sounds.

------
chrislloyd
The best bit of this video is where she hands it to her father and asks him to
try. I'm guessing, but that gesture wouldn't have come quite so naturally on a
traditional computer.

------
swombat
Now try giving that 2.5 year old a Netbook with Windows on it and see how well
that works.

~~~
leviathant
Now try giving that 2.5 year old a violin and see how well that works.

Now try giving that 2.5 year old a graphing calculator and see how well that
works.

Now try giving that 2.5 year old a drum kit and see how well that works.

Now try giving that 2.5 year old canvas with a palette of oil paints and see
how well that works.

~~~
kalid
Those are great examples. Regular PCs are like giving people drum kits because
it satisfies all the "requirements".

The iPad is like giving you maracas, a tambourine, or bongo drums. Same
functionality? No. Vastly more fun for beginners? Yes.

~~~
leviathant
I realize we're stretching the analogy thin, but maracas, bongos, and
tambourines can all be had for $3-$20 each.

~~~
kalid
Very true, but are we considering cost or usability?

------
edo
It's amazing how fast she grasps the concept of the UI. Either she has some
experience with an iPhone, or we have gotten to a point where interface design
has become so intuitive that 3-year olds grasp software immediately. I think
the first is the case, but impressive nonetheless ;-)

~~~
tullius
A friend told me his kids now try to use iphone hand motions on other screens
they encounter and are surprised when they don't work. Same age group.

~~~
dhyasama
Almost everyone that picks up my kindle for the first time touches the screen
before anything else. When I say it isn't touch screen they just kind of shrug
and mumble.

~~~
kevinpet
A keyboard. How quaint.

------
hasanove
Comments on video by its author: [http://laughingsquid.com/a-2-5-year-old-
uses-an-ipad-for-the...](http://laughingsquid.com/a-2-5-year-old-uses-an-ipad-
for-the-first-time/)

------
bm98
As a father of a 1.5 year-old who loves the iPhone, this looks very familiar.
But toddlers pick up on all kinds of new things incredibly fast, so I'm not
sure this tells us much about the learnability of the iPad for computing
novices of any other age group.

It _seems_ easier than the typical desktop/laptop, but there are many subtle
interactions that have to be learned and practiced to use the iPad. I would
like to see how well a 60+ year-old without prior computing experience
interacts with it.

~~~
cheald
My 1.5 year-old knows how to use the mouse (he grasps the interaction between
what's in his hand and what happens on screen), spinning the wheel while the
mouse is over a window makes that window move up and down, and that the
"media" button on my keyboard launches Foobar 2000.

Kids are wicked smart, and learn shockingly fast. Needless to say, it's
impossible to work with him in my lap.

------
gojomo
Shades of Neal Stephenson's _A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer_.

But also, from a friend who's had problems reclaiming his iPad from his
3-year-old son: shades of Ray Bradbury's _The Veldt_.

~~~
jgerman
This is precisely why I was waiting for this device, or one like it, and why
my daughter is getting her own ;)

------
RevRal
Anyone else think this could have very well been a father teaching his child
how to use current caveman technology? Like a bow and arrow.

"It doesn't work when you hold your thumb there. Good. Now pull the arrow back
and release."

------
heyitsnick
Note at 2:54 how she naturally crosses her legs...

What's was that link on HN the other day about ipad and seating posture?

------
edo
For people interested in interface design paired with kids new to UI's. The
following link points to research performed in India, where computers were
dropped in slums for children to use. They monitored their progress in
understanding the interface, and in discovering the web.
<http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/india/kids.html#04>

------
nooneelse
Asked for a camera, "I want the one the takes a picture." Too bad, kid.

------
thomasreggi
So easy a child can do it? I really think testing a user interface on a child
is key to good design.

~~~
pclark
really? why?

~~~
potatolicious
The more "higher level" thought processes required just to operate the basics
of your device (e.g., basic navigation, app launching, scrolling, etc) the
more mental effort (and thus, frustration and cognitive load) it takes from
the user.

As an extension to this, the less brain power you have to devote to basic,
fundamental interactions with the machine, the more bandwidth you have to
dedicate towards other things (e.g., if the calculator is hard to use, you're
spending more effort wrangling the calculator instead of solving math
problems).

~~~
thomasreggi
I really like the calculator example. Imagine a buttonless calculator that
just took dictation in plain english and gave the result for really complex
equations.

~~~
viraptor
Not sure I would want one. ".... over two plus three. No move the plus three
out of the fraction. The other one. Don't put the fraction plus three in
parentheses. Ah... just let me use the keyboard!" Non-trivial math expressions
are very hard to dictate.

------
dsspence
She has the attention span of a 2.5 ye -- oh.

------
jacquesm
For the longest time the mantra in good user interface design has been 'make
it so a three year old can use it'. This video so proves that to be a true
thing. I always try to find people that have as little exposure to computers
as possible when trying out new stuff, I never actually thought of taking that
literally and employing toddlers as testers, but after this video I'm 100%
convinced that's the way to go.

------
lauken
Could this become a usability test? Take your app or device and observe the
interaction; positive and negative to improve overall UX. Similar to the
drunken user test.W ould the results be valid for business functions where the
child does not have or understand the need or problem being solved?

------
CoachRufus87
i can only imagine what kind of technology we'll be dealing with when she's
reading HN

------
froo
Very cool vid. We haven't gotten these in Australia yet so I'm wondering what
(if they exist) the parental controls are like for the iPad?

I'd be curious about purchasing another one for a nephew.

------
mbrubeck
Here's the link to the father's blog post with some brief commentary:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1245661>

------
sliverstorm
"The Apple iPad. So simple, your 2-year-old can do it."

I can't decide whether most people would be affronted or happy. I know I would
turn away from an ad like that, but on the other hand based on the explosion
of IT'S SO EASY ads in every sector, I'm probably a minority.

------
EwanMacLeod
Just fantastic

------
hackermom
What I find striking is how intuitive it all seems. She just "knows" how to
use the device. It is very interesting from a user interface and HID
perspective.

------
cracki
it's a giant ipod. of course the girl knows how to use it. her father probably
let her play with an iphone when she was still in her mother's belly.

------
yters
I propose a macrnews (MN) for posts like these, and all similar as new mac
products are released and rumors dispersed.

------
skywalker
Isn't the radiation dangerous for small children?

EDIT: whoa! I have been downvotted after asking if it is safe for children.

So, here are some references.

"Children have much thinner skull bones and their brains have a lot more
fluid, so their brain tissues would likely absorb twice more radiation
compared to an adult’s brain. But cellphone radiation standards set by the
government remains the same for both groups."
<http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/tag/radiation/>

"If the notebook is sitting on a child’s lap, that child is exposed to radio
emissions comparable to that of a mobile phone. If the notebook is 20 cm away,
the child is subjected to exposure of just 1% to that of a mobile phone"
[http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2007/04/29/warning-
keep...](http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2007/04/29/warning-keep-wi-fi-
notebooks-away-from-childrens-laps/)

How about that?

~~~
thejake
Actually, Apple ended up going with the standard lithium ion batteries instead
of the thermonuclear reactor for the iPad.

Pretty weak if you ask me. Any money that the HP Slate will have a 50MW unit.

