Should toddlers have tablets? New research shows majority of them have one by age 4
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Does your toddler have a tablet? New research from Common Sense Media shows that the majority of kids by age 4 have a tablet!
The study examined media use for kids zero to eight and found that by age 4, almost 60% of kids have their own tablet. By age 8, 1 in 4 children have their own cellphone.
“It’s not surprising, but it’s unfortunate. It is very much not recommended at all,” Michael Klinkner, a Phoenix-area licensed clinical social worker, said.
So, at what age can kids have a tablet? Klinkner says, “the recommendations are much more around 8, 9, 10 years old.”
“Even the games are going to advertise the great effects and that kids can read earlier, or they’re going to have math skills earlier for kids, that is great marketing by those games, those kids don’t need those games to develop the math skills. They don’t need those games to develop their reading skills,” Klinkner added.
He says those games, even the educational ones, are “just sucking the kid into there” and research shows it can create “attention problems later in life.”
For parents who rely on tablets to keep their toddlers busy while they work or tend to the house, how can they lessen the amount of time their kids use them?
Klinkner says there are two approaches: going cold turkey or gradually weaning down screentime. If you go with the first option, Klinkner says you have to be prepared for your child to act out.
“If you just straight take it away, their brain is going to hate it, they are going to have tantrums,” he added.
If you try the weaning method, Klinkner says you can do it over a week or two and “slowly wean them away” by cutting it down by 15 or 30 minutes a day.
As for screens in general, Klinkner is a fan of the “no screens before 2″ philosophy, and even at age 2, he says kids should only watch about 30 minutes, or one show, a day.
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