
 
 Researchers worry over the effects of using a device at too young of an age. (iStock) 
 
 It wasn’t long before 2-year-old Kyle got his hands on his father’s iPad. He worked with it with an immediate – almost savant-like – fluency. His parents were amazed. “Within 10 minutes, he was mastering it,” dad Fang Chang told the Christian Science Monitor. “He knew how to use the home button, how to open apps. It was amazing to us how quickly he was able to use.” 
 
 The boy is part of the first generation to use handheld digital technology from birth and have come to be known as the “App “Generation.” According to a Nielsen Study, more than 70 percent of children under 12 use tablets. An additional survey by Common Sense Media, reported by the Christian Science Monitor, discovered that nearly 40 percent of children between the ages of 2 and 4 often found some mobile device in their hands. 
 
 What, if any, repercussions arise from this use? Numerous studies have pointed to the possible side effects of too much television or video games for some children. But is it the same for mobile phones? 
 
 Researchers with the Boston University School of Medicine have now weighed in on those questions in a new set of recommendations published on Friday in the journal Pediatrics. “Mobile devices are everywhere and children are using them more frequently at young ages,” Jenny Radesky, a clinical instructor at Boston University’s Developmental-Behavior Pediatrics, said in a statement. “The impact these mobile devices are having on the development and behavior of children is still relatively unknown.” 
 
 Nevertheless, the researchers have arrived a series of unsettling conclusions. They said children younger than 30 months “cannot learn from television and videos as they do from real-life interactions.” And to use a mobile device before that age on tasks that aren’t educational can be “detrimental to the social-emotional development of the child.” 
 
 Of particular concern, according to the recommendations, was how such technology could “interfere” with a child’s growing sense of empathy or problem-solving skills. Kids acquire that capacity by playing and interacting with peers and exploring their immediate surroundings. “If these devices become the predominant method to calm and distract young children, will they be able to develop their own internal mechanisms of self-regulation?” the article asked. 
 
 It’s not all bad, however. If an iPad is used for educational purposes — like vocabulary acquisition or to read electronic books — they can help in the education of a child. But when it’s turned to mindless material, which the researchers call “mundane,” it may be harmful for kids. “It has been well-studied that increased television time decreases a child’s development of language and social skills,” Radesky said. “Mobile media use similarly replaces the amount of time spent engaging in direct human-human interaction.” 
 
 The article expands on Radesky’s study of how mobile technology is affecting parenting. In March of last year, she published another article in Pediatrics that studied 40 caregivers who were interacting with their children while using a mobile device. Those who were “highly absorbed” in their iPads or phones “often responded harshly to child behavior.” Meanwhile, the children switched between entertaining themselves and staging “escalating bids” to win their parent’s attention. 
 
 If the roles are reversed — and the child has the device — the result could be just as damaging, Raesky said. “These devices also may replace the hands-on activities important for the development of sensory-motor and visual-motor skills, which are important for the learning and application of math and science.” ||||| Educational Value 
 
 Although well-researched television programs such as Sesame Street or Blue’s Clues can promote early academic skills in preschool-aged children, children <30 months cannot learn from television and videos as they do from real-life interactions.2 Interactive media, on the other hand, allow for contingent responses to children’s actions and thus may facilitate more retention of taught material. For example, socially contingent media (ie, with appropriate content, timing, and intensity) such as videophone apps are just as effective as real-life encounters in teaching language to 24 month olds,3 but otherwise, published research on whether infants and toddlers can learn from interactive screens is scant. 
 
 Promising research suggests that interactive media such as learn-to-read apps and electronic books (e-books) may increase early literacy … ||||| Using a smartphone or iPad to pacify a toddler may impede their ability to learn self-regulation, according to researchers. 
 
 In a commentary for the journal Pediatrics, researchers at Boston University School of Medicine reviewed available types of interactive media and raised “important questions regarding their use as educational tools”, according to a news release. 
 
 
 
 The researchers said that though the adverse effects of television and video on very small children was well understood, society’s understanding of the impact of mobile devices on the pre-school brain has been outpaced by how much children are already using them. 
 
 The researchers warned that using a tablet or smartphone to divert a child’s attention could be detrimental to “their social-emotional development”. 
 
 “If these devices become the predominant method to calm and distract young children, will they be able to develop their own internal mechanisms of self-regulation?” the scientists asked. 
 
 Use of interactive screen time below three years of age could also impair a child’s development of the skills needed for maths and science, they found, although they also said some studies suggested benefits to toddlers’ use of mobile devices including in early literacy skills, or better academic engagement in students with autism. 
 
 Jenny Radesky, clinical instructor in developmental-behavioural pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine, published her team’s findings. She urged parents to increase “direct human to human interaction” with their offspring. 
 
 Radesky encouraged more “unplugged” family interaction in general and suggested young children may benefit from “a designated family hour” of quality time spent with relatives – without any television and mobile devices being involved. 
 
 The researchers pointed out that while there is plenty of expert evidence that children under 30 months cannot learn as well from television and videos as they can from human interaction, there has been insufficient investigation into whether interactive applications on mobile devices produce a similar result. 
 
 Radesky questioned whether the use of smartphones and tablets could interfere with the ability to develop empathy and problem-solving skills and elements of social interaction that are typically learned during unstructured play and communication with peers. 
 
 Playing with building blocks may help a toddler more with early maths skills than interactive electronic gadgets, she said. 
 
 “These devices may replace the hands-on activities important for the development of sensorimotor and visual-motor skills, which are important for the learning and application of maths and science,” Radesky said. 
 
 There is evidence that well-researched early-learning television programmes, such as Sesame Street, and electronic books and learn-to-read applications on mobile devices can help vocabulary and reading comprehension, the team found, but only once children are much closer to school age. 
 
 Radesky recommended that parents try applications before considering allowing a child to use them. 
 
 “At this time there are more questions than answers when it comes to mobile media,” she said. 
 
 This article was amended on Monday 2 February 2015, to correctly identify the source cited. The headline and text were extensively rewritten to better reflect the nature of the article. We originally said the article was based on scientific research; in fact it was based on a news release, dated 30 January 2015, about a commentary on previous research and possible new areas of study. Links in the article have been changed to correctly identify sources. 
 

– Tempted to hand your fussy toddler an iPad? You may want to think again: Research out of Boston University finds that, for children younger than 30 months, using smartphones and tablets for anything other than educational purposes can be "detrimental to ... social-emotional development," the Washington Post reports. At that age, kids learn best from "real-life interactions," the study published in the journal Pediatrics finds, and they need to learn empathy and problem-solving skills by playing with other children. The use of mobile devices instead can interfere with the acquisition of those skills. "If these devices become the predominant method to calm and distract young children, will they be able to develop their own internal mechanisms of self-regulation?" the study authors ask. The researchers also note, per the Guardian, that for children under 3 years of age, "interactive screen time" can hurt their development of the skills they'll later use for math and science: "These devices may replace the hands-on activities important for the development of sensorimotor and visual-motor skills," such as playing with building blocks, the authors note. Allowing children to use mobile devices for educational, rather than "mindless" or "mundane" purposes, can be useful, but only when children are closer to school age, the Telegraph reports. When children are younger, such devices are most effective when used alongside adults, rather than simply as a means of distraction. (Of course, there can be practical benefits to your toddler knowing how to use your iPhone.)