Kids and tech debate rages

CLUED UP: 2-year-old Daniel Mabazza using an iPad for educational purposes.PHOTO/FILE

THE ISSUE

As parents and educators struggle to keep up with rapidly advancing smart technology, concerns are growing over how much tablet and smartphone use is too much for young children.

The issue hit the spotlight again last week with a new study claiming more Kiwi kids can use smartphones than tie their own shoelaces.

Debate has raged worldwide on the benefits of children using smart technology versus the damage it can cause to their cognitive abilities, social skills, physical skills and learning achievements.

However as the technology is still so new it's difficult for experts to make firm conclusions and it could take years before the full effects are known.

Many claims are backed up by anecdotal evidence, early research and statistics on increasing usage of tablets and smartphones by children.

Internet security company AVG's Digital Diaries study, which questioned more than 6000 parents in 10 countries, found 58 per cent of New Zealand children aged 3-5 are fully capable of operating a smartphone or tablet, but only 8 per cent can tie their own shoelaces.

Meanwhile, Kiwi parents are under increasing pressure to buy tablets for their children's school use, as many schools institute "bring your own device" policies.

The cost alone is enough to make many parents balk, with some tablets priced at $500 plus.

Te Akau ki Papamoa School in the Western Bay of Plenty is providing iPads for all its students to remove the cost to parents.

Principal Bruce Jepsen says the school noticed a remarkable lift in achievement in the three years it had trialled iPads in classrooms and the new devices will be used to support learning.

But how young is too young?

INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH

Much of children's early use of smart technologies also involves accessing the internet, which comes with its own security risks of children's privacy and cyber safety.

Last year researchers from the London School of Economics and Political Science and EU Kids Online released a report based on seven years of research into the benefits and risks of children's internet use for 0 to 8-year-olds.

The report found increasing numbers of children, many using tablets or smartphones, were using the internet to play games, research homework and socialise in children's virtual worlds.

Using touchscreens was easier for very young children because they could press the buttons and icons with little direction from adults, the report said.

But it acknowledged debate between experts about the effects of too much screen time for children, including a limited attention span, and displacement of time otherwise spent on physical play.

AVG's study found for New Zealand, of the 92 per cent of 6 to 9-year-olds using the internet, half were playing in virtual worlds such as Webkinz or Club Penguin, and 8 per cent were using Facebook, despite the social network having a minimum age policy of 13.

Director of Melbourne University's BabyLab neuroscience laboratory Jordy Kaufman said while children could use the internet on iPads for reading, watching educational television and video chat with their grandparents, they could also play age-inappropriate games and "spend countless hours passively watching non-educational videos".

Dr Kaufman told the New Zealand Herald ultimately it was the on-screen activities children engaged in that mattered, not the fact they were using the new technology.

Problem-solving activities, such as moving virtual blocks around on an iPad, taught skills that could then be transferred to the physical world, he said.

However, he restricted the time his own young children spent using touch-screen devices.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended television and other entertainment media such as tablets and smartphones be avoided for children under 2, on the grounds excessive media use can lead to attention problems, school difficulties, sleep and eating disorders, and obesity.

NZ EXPERTS WEIGH IN

Sport New Zealand community sport and recreation general manager Geoff Barry says while young children increasingly lack basic skills such as throwing or catching a ball, the problems cannot solely be blamed on youngster's smart technology use.

Feedback from regional sports trusts, who run fundamental movement programmes in primary schools, points to competing pressures on the time children spend learning, which means they have less time to develop physical skills.

"It's a big societal conversation around how kids are growing up and the opportunities they get to learn, both about technology and literacy and numeracy, and ... physical literacy."

Single parents or working parents don't have as much time to spend playing with kids, he says. In some cases parents lack confidence to teach physical skills or cannot afford to take their children to sports lessons.

But Mr Barry says the rise in smart technology presents opportunities to encourage physical activity at the click of a button - through the use of apps and other online resources.

"It's around using technology rather than blaming technology.

"That could be apps using ... fun caricatures about how you bounce a basketball, or how you can play games with your brothers and sisters."

A Christchurch-based company offering advice and resources to teachers for developing young children's perceptual motor skills is Moving Smart, headed by former primary teacher, international author and child development expert Gill Connell. She agrees that smart technology is now a part of everyday life for most families. But it should be used in moderation, she says.

"We have got our head in the sand if we say 'no screens'."

Primary school teachers often voiced concerns to her about too much screen time affecting children's eye development and their young pupils consequently rubbing their eyes constantly, blinking, have watery eyes, or losing their place when reading.

"They have difficulty focusing from far away to up close, they don't develop peripheral vision and they also have difficulty with what we call eye fitness, which is basically the muscles that drive the eye."

Eye-tracking activities such as bubble catching helps combat those problems, she says.

She recommends parents limit their own screen time when around their children, to set an example.

"If mums and dads are constantly on their phones and constantly on their iPads in the presence of children, children have that natural curiosity to want to do it too.

"We have to be consistent. If we don't want our kids to use screens then we shouldn't have a rule for us and a rule for them."APNZ