

The child, the tablet and the developing mind - wslh
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/disruptions-what-does-a-tablet-do-to-the-childs-mind/

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fjk
One of my coworkers bought his three-year-old nephew a picture book as a
birthday present. The three-year-old tried to "pinch-to-zoom" on one of the
book's pictures and threw the book away in disgust when he realized it wasn't
interactive.

When I first heard this story, I thought it indicated a worrisome trend in the
youngest generation. Now I'm not so sure. The article notes that kids growing
up with tablets isn't necessarily a bad thing, and the reasoning given makes
sense.

The kids in the article play with iPads at the dinner table silently, but the
author notes that it would be similarly bad for them to be coloring at the
table silently. The current hypothesis is that spending less time interacting
with people harms the development of some communication skills.

This is only relatively related to the article's content, but I would be
interested in a study that analyzes the effects of children using tablets for
creative purposes like drawing, puzzles and games, etc. versus consuming
content passively.

~~~
wslh
My youngest child is "using" an iPad before she was 1 year old while the
eldest a multitouch mobile a little bit after her first year of life. My
perspective is very simple: use this technologies as part of the weekly
activities if they are interested on such gadgets but it is more important to
socialize, play with REAL physical things and without directions.

At the same time talking about tablets is a bit generic. One thing is to play
Angry Birds and another <http://www.fungooms.com>

