This is very interesting to me. It hits home because when I saw my sister and her three-year-old son a month ago, I noticed something that seemed a little strange to me. He was constantly playing games on her iPhone. He was walking around the house holding it, and he wouldn’t let anyone else have it. He doesn’t know how to understand complex sentences, spell, or eat with a fork, but he can play the heck out of some smartphone games.
I remember reading about a study that AVG did last year in their Digital Diaries series about how a child’s online presence begins before they are even born these days. It’s very common for parents to send out ultrasound pictures to their friends and family, and even post them on Facebook and other social media sites. I remember I sent out pictures of my son before he was born, and that was ten years ago. Then today, I read about some recent research that AVG did on the topic of children and their online skills. I put the links below so you can read the details of the study, but the bottom line is, most 2-5 year olds can play a computer game, but they can’t ride a bike or tie their shoes. Overall, 69% of toddlers are using a computer. They are the first generation of real digital natives.
What do you think of this? You can get the opinions of some parents in the video below. I think as long as parents are taking the proper safety precautions, it’s a good thing, absolutely. Our entire future is based on technology, so why wouldn’t we want our children to become familiar with it when they are young? However, I don’t think it takes the place of playing outside, learning real life social skills or spending time with family.
I know my own son got on Twitter when he was 8 years old, and now he is 10. When I watched him send a tweet yesterday, I made note that he did it while he was multi-tasking on another website. Navigating his way around the Internet and socializing there is second nature to him, and I’m glad for it. However, I’m always within a few feet of him when he’s doing it. His computers (he has a Mac and a PC) are not in his bedroom or in a private place.
What do you think of this? I’d be very interested to know your opinion. You can read more about this study in this AVG press release, and also on the AVG blog.
Via: [Trends Updates]
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