According to a recent report from our sister site mHealthWatch, mobile users are getting younger and younger. And The American Academy of Pediatrics isn’t quite as bummed out about that reality as it used to be.
“A new study,” USA Today reports, suggests that nearly “one in four parents is using a mobile device to put their young children — sometimes their very young children — to sleep.”
And mobile devices are even more commonly used during waking hours to educate and entertain little ones.
“Earlier this year, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) modified its recommendations for parents, saying that while face-to-face interactions with adults are preferred, devices such as smartphones and tablets could be educational, even for toddlers, if a caregiver reads or plays along to guide the learning,” USA Today explains in Monday’s report.
The AAP determined that “passive video presentations do not lead to language learning in infants and young toddlers … The more media engender live interactions, the more educational value they may hold.”
Some say that early introduction to mobile technologies will prove particularly beneficial at school age, especially with more schools now turning to tablets and mobile computing devices for lessons, exams, and opportunities for learning.
To read the report in full, click here.
