Tablet Dilemma

irishman86

Hey guys
My toddler is 18 months and ive been hearing different views on a tablet, that its good for kids and bad for kids
How have you guys found it pros and cons
I'm not a fan of kids sitting with there faces stuck in screens in fact i find it terrible and it would nearly stop me buying one tbh

emo72

As a parent that watched his kids grow up using them. I'd say don't give it to them. Leave it as long as you can.

mr_cochise

MrJones1973 wrote:

Episode 2 was an improvement. The court case was at least credible and only at the end did we get the mawkishness when The President visited his daughter. We all are mawkish around our kids but nobody wants to watch it.

I would say that 18 months is waay too young and as the poster above says, wait as long as possible. From experience, they can definitely cause more problems than they solve.

shesty

If you don"t feel right about it then don't buy it.
I am not a fan personally.I understand their usefulness as a distraction but we don't have them in our house.The only screen the kids watch here is the tv.I know there are tonnes of educational apps out there but for that age group the best education is interaction with other people, getting out and about and playing with physical toys, learning to colour, do jigsaws etc.It's more work for you but there's no app that can replace that.They have the next ten years to learn their alphabet and numbers and the like.

bee06

There has been a lot of research on impact on early childhood development for example the article below. I’m only pregnant with my first at the moment but am very anti young children using phones and tablets. I hate seeing the zombies that my nieces and nephews turn into when you given them a tablet.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/behind-online-behavior/201604/what-screen-time-can-really-do-kids-brains?amp

Sleeper12

mr_cochise wrote:

I would say that 18 months is waay too young and as the poster above says, wait as long as possible. From experience, they can definitely cause more problems than they solve.

Agree 18 months is way to young.

There are maximum recommendations for the amount of time for screen time for different age groups. You'll find them on a Google search. It's important to remember that total screen time includes watching TV and Disney movies.

appledrop

I have an 18mth old + no way would I get him a tablet. That's just mad. He has only recently been allowed watch t.v + we limit it to one small programmes + a lof of days he doesn't watch any. I've seen the reaction if it goes off before he wants!

shesty

That's the other thing; they turn into monsters.The tantrums are really not worth the 15 mims peace.

appledrop

That's it sheath. Now don't get me wrong sometimes you just need the few minutes peace but they go mad! Our little guy is much better now though as we just let him have the tantum+ t.v still goes off! Bee06 I think your been a bit harsh. We all know screen time not ideal but wait till you have your own running around + just need 10 mins peace.

endacl

irishman86 wrote: »

I'm not a fan of kids sitting with there faces stuck in screens in fact i find it terrible

There's a wealth of research that agrees with you. You've answered your own question. Your house. Your rules.

mirrorwall14

Buying a toddler a tablet? Not for us and 18 months is young. At that age the only screen time he got was FaceTiming family.

However we are a technology household, at a rough count there are at least four tablets, two kindles, multiple phones, multiple computers and multiple laptops in the house. Banning screentime for our child would be unfeasible so we allow it BUT in limited quantities and supervised. Very specific apps (endless alphabet series is good for example), restricted Netflix profile etc.

Oh and we have tantrums over ‘the wrong plate’ or his bricks falling over, can’t remember any specific one over the tablet.

Edit: ferry to the uk with a long trip either end, the tablet was invaluable. Though again, it wasn’t like we went out to buy one, just repurposed an old one

bee06

appledrop wrote: »

That's it sheath. Now don't get me wrong sometimes you just need the few minutes peace but they go mad! Our little guy is much better now though as we just let him have the tantum+ t.v still goes off! Bee06 I think your been a bit harsh. We all know screen time not ideal but wait till you have your own running around + just need 10 mins peace.

I don’t really see how I’m being harsh by saying I don’t agree with young children using phones or tablets?

shesty

Should edit to say we have them in the house....the kids just don't know they can watch stuff on them.They've never been given that option.
As someone said...your house, your rules.

Anne_cordelia

bee06 wrote: »

I don’t really see how I’m being harsh by saying I don’t agree with young children using phones or tablets?

It’s totally possible to manage without screentime. We’ve done it with our three.

irishman86

mr_cochise wrote: »

I would say that 18 months is waay too young and as the poster above says, wait as long as possible. From experience, they can definitely cause more problems than they solve.

Oh i'm sorry i just pointed out she was 18 months
I was planning for down the line like 2 or 3

irishman86

bee06 wrote: »

There has been a lot of research on impact on early childhood development for example the article below. I’m only pregnant with my first at the moment but am very anti young children using phones and tablets. I hate seeing the zombies that my nieces and nephews turn into when you given them a tablet.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/behind-online-behavior/201604/what-screen-time-can-really-do-kids-brains?amp

I have the same view but i'm basing it on nieces and nephews where they all have one to keep quiet

irishman86

Sleeper12 wrote: »

Agree 18 months is way to young.

There are maximum recommendations for the amount of time for screen time for different age groups. You'll find them on a Google search. It's important to remember that total screen time includes watching TV and Disney movies.

appledrop wrote: »

I have an 18mth old + no way would I get him a tablet. That's just mad. He has only recently been allowed watch t.v + we limit it to one small programmes + a lof of days he doesn't watch any. I've seen the reaction if it goes off before he wants!

I phrased it incorrectly, off course i wasnt thinking about it now. She doesnt even have any interest in the tv.
I was more planning down the line as i was reading some articles today for and against them

pwurple

Two or three is way too young for it.

My 6 and 3 year olds use our family tablet, for OSMO or for skyping cousins in other countries etc. very handy for that. But not on their own, and they know it’s not theirs.

Never out of my sight with it, and I don’t think you could leave a child that age onto the internet on their own anyway, so I don’t really get the 10 minutes peace thing.

I had to uninstall youtube, the eldest went off surfing children’s youtube after skype one day while I was changing the small ones nappy, and found some genuinely disturbing stuff, barbies screaming in labour pain, and some really weird recommended videos that I would not consider to be child appropriate at all.


Unless you are taking it off the internet, and managing the usage very tightly, I wouldn’t be in favour of it.

catrionanic

https://www.aop.org.uk/advice-and-support/for-patients/childrens-eye-health/screen-time-for-kids-facts-for-parents

Some good information here about screen time for kids, from the association of optometrists

pwurple

Here's some interesting reading too...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/17/peppa-pig-donald-trump-internet-social-media-algorithms

Romantic Rose

Not a chance I would give an 18 month a tablet. I'm very anti screen time for younger children. The odd DVD and tv show here and there but not much.

The amount of classrooms I have been in with children speaking with full on American accents or sounding like Peppa Pig is crazy.

Or just speech impediments because the children are not being spoken to, need to speak themselves or read to.

Screen time just dumbs children down and puts them into a fantasy world that reality just cannot compete with.

Screens are fast and life is slow is the motto the authorities are trying to get out there.

Once you give a tablet to a young child, there is no going back.

Just no in my opinion.

Dravokivich

My son was using a tablet quite a bit from 18 months+ Just hasn't used it the last 6 or so months because I couldn't be bothered to charge it. Hasn't been an issue for him. In that time he learned how to use each app depending on what he wanted to watch and how to pick it out from a list. He doesn't have any anxiety about not using it either and has only recently asked about it because of games he saw on his Granda's iPad.

I wouldn't be hesitant about allowing the use of technology. It all just comes down to how you introduce a kid to something, monitor it, and encourage their ability to interact.

Neyite

Romantic Rose wrote: »

Not a chance I would give an 18 month a tablet. I'm very anti screen time for younger children. The odd DVD and tv show here and there but not much.

The amount of classrooms I have been in with children speaking with full on American accents or sounding like Peppa Pig is crazy.

Or just speech impediments because the children are not being spoken to, need to speak themselves or read to.

Screen time just dumbs children down and puts them into a fantasy world that reality just cannot compete with.

Screens are fast and life is slow is the motto the authorities are trying to get out there.

Once you give a tablet to a young child, there is no going back.

Just no in my opinion.

That's a lot of scaremongering without anything to back it up. My son has used a tablet from when he was about 18 months old. And gets more screen time than what the experts insist will turn him into a moron.

He's absolutely flying it in school, and is actually way ahead of his class in phoenics, language, vocabulary, drawing, colouring and just generally a star pupil. That was confirmed a couple of weeks ago by his teacher.

Hours and hours of screen time for children with zero interaction from a parent is obviously not good, but it would want to be from morning to night every day to churn out children as damaged as you describe.

What is more important for children is monitoring their usage, ensuring that the balance between screen time /homework/ play/ chores and alternative quiet activities such as reading books is a healthy one and teaching them how to use technology safely and responsibly.

sillysocks

Neyite wrote: »

That's a lot of scaremongering without anything to back it up. My son has used a tablet from when he was about 18 months old. And gets more screen time than what the experts insist will turn him into a moron.

He's absolutely flying it in school, and is actually way ahead of his class in phoenics, language, vocabulary, drawing, colouring and just generally a star pupil. That was confirmed a couple of weeks ago by his teacher.

Hours and hours of screen time for children with zero interaction from a parent is obviously not good, but it would want to be from morning to night every day to churn out children as damaged as you describe.

What is more important for children is monitoring their usage, ensuring that the balance between screen time /homework/ play/ chores and alternative quiet activities such as reading books is a healthy one and teaching them how to use technology safely and responsibly.

I agree with all of this. Both of my older children have had access to an iPad or my phone since they were young. But it's very much controlled access, they might be allowed 30/45 minutes a day, not necessarily every day depending on what else we're doing. They're not allowed Google or YouTube etc and most of the time they have the device on airplane mode so it means even if some of the apps try get online content etc they can't. Airplane mode also stops the pop up ads on apps (and stops them sending texts or making calls by mistake when they're smaller!)

In fairness the world is now so technology focussed that I think common sense with regards to tablets etc is good, and once it's controlled I don't see the big issue. I do see in my daughters class how some of the kids are obsessed with game consoles and playing games so much so that they do nothing else and can talk about nothing only games. Even their playground games revolve around game characters. That's when I think you could see an issue and that things are out of hand.

whiskeyman

Thought this might be of use:

http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/66927/1/Policy%20Brief%2017-%20Families%20%20Screen%20Time.pdf

This guidance discouraged parents from using screen
media for children under the age of two, noting that there was no evidence of educational
benefits for infants, and limiting screen time to two hours a day at the upper limit for
children over the age of two

Although no education benefit, I've no doubt that many parents simply use the tablets / phone to pacify their children when they otherwise would be a handful.
The phone / tablet has become a digital soother in my opinion, and both can be hard to give up if over used and over reliant.

That said, we can't deny our kids digital use either.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2017/jan/06/screen-time-guidelines-need-to-be-built-on-evidence-not-hype

I guess many parents will always just know what's best.

Sheepdish1

I think its a personal choice but my viewpoint is when children aren't stuck in screens they learn to do other things such as drawing, making comics, reading, playing etc to keep themselves occupied.

From what I've seen many children that are big in tablets, computing games, phones etc become very bored very quickly when not being constantly busy, its like they need constant entertainment. I feel that children should have the time to get bored as this can lead them to being inventive and creative if that makes sense? I know its easier given them a screen sometimes but I agree with the poster above about kids turning into zombies with screens.

I think children spending excessive amounts time staring into screens can be lost opportunities for developing skills elsewhere eg socialising, drawing, exploring outdoors etc. I think generally we miss a lot of moments staring into screens so I discourage it is my home but thats just what works for me.

EndaHonesty

If the child can give you 3 distinct reasons, in writing, why they should have the tablet, you should give it to them.

If they can't, don't.

Bacchus

Sheepdish1 wrote: »

I think its a personal choice but my viewpoint is when children aren't stuck in screens they learn to do other things such as drawing, making comics, reading, playing etc to keep themselves occupied.

From what I've seen many children that are big in tablets, computing games, phones etc become very bored very quickly when not being constantly busy, its like they need constant entertainment. I feel that children should have the time to get bored as this can lead them to being inventive and creative if that makes sense? I know its easier given them a screen sometimes but I agree with the poster above about kids turning into zombies with screens.

I think children spending excessive amounts time staring into screens can be lost opportunities for developing skills elsewhere eg socialising, drawing, exploring outdoors etc. I think generally we miss a lot of moments staring into screens so I discourage it is my home but thats just what works for me.

Very much agree with all of this. Being bored and being able to deal with that are important life skills. People are increasingly becoming incapable of spending any length of time without checking their phones or absorbing some form of information. We're addicted to information and instant gratification, and this is a generation that didn't grow up on these mobile devices. At least in our formative years we had the time and space to, as you say, be creative, learn real skills, and think independently. Not that technology eradicates that but it does impede it (to varying degrees depending on the child, and how much time in front of the screen we're talking about).

seamus

whiskeyman wrote: »

That said, we can't deny our kids digital use either.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2017/jan/06/screen-time-guidelines-need-to-be-built-on-evidence-not-hype

To add to the above article's concern about "moral panic" taking over in the place of evidence, Oxford recently published a paper suggesting that the current guidelines about "screen time" are excessively restrictive:
http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2017-12-14-children%E2%80%99s-screen-time-guidelines-too-restrictive-according-new-research

This is most likely because the nature of media and what screens are used for, has moved faster than the research has allowed for. The difference between screens in 2010 and 2017 is huge. It's no longer just a screen which displays cartoons, it's now an interactive environment with the same potential for learning and skills development as crayons and paper or a box of Lego.

Certainly I wouldn't be afraid of using a tablet to show a song or something entertaining to an 18-month-old, or worst case scenario to show them some Peppa Pig while you finish your dinner. But as a routine thing that they get to "play" with, probably not.