Members in the Media
From: The New York Times

Many Children Under 5 Are Left to Their Mobile Devices, Survey Finds

The New York Times:

A small survey of parents in Philadelphia found that three-quarters of their children had been given tablets, smartphones or iPods of their own by age 4 and had used the devices without supervision, researchers reported on Monday.

The survey was not nationally representative and relied on self-reported data from parents. But experts say the surprising result adds to growing evidence that the use of electronic devices has become deeply woven into the experience of childhood.

It was not clear how often the parents had bequeathed old devices as digital hand-me-downs or had bought new ones.

“That’s huge,” said Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a professor of psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia, who was not involved in the survey, which was published in the journal Pediatrics. “If children are sitting by themselves glued to digital candy, we simply don’t know what the consequences are for their early social development.”

Read the whole story: The New York Times

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