Babies can use phones before they walk and talk – TheLiberal.ie – Our News, Your Views

Babies can use phones before they walk and talk




New research that was carried out has shown that babies and toddlers now know how to use smartphones and tablets before they can walk and talk.

At the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in San Diego last weekend, researchers also said that one in seven toddlers under the age of one use devices for at least one hour per day.

The research found that even a third of the babies under a year could scroll down the screen, while a fourth managed to actually call someone.Baby-girl-playing-with-tablet

Time spent on smartphones increased with age, with 26% of two-year-olds and 38% of four-year-olds using devices for at least an hour a day. Finally, only 30% of parents said their child’s pediatrician had discussed media use with them.

We didn’t expect children were using the devices from the age of 6 months,” said Lead author Hilda Kabali, MD, a third-year resident in the Pediatrics Department at Einstein Healthcare Network.

Results also showed 73% of parents let their children play with mobile devices while doing household chores, 60% while running errands, 65% to calm a child and 29% to put a child to sleep.

The data was collected with results from 370 parents in a low-income, minority community.

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