Your kids are clammoring fot it: technology. And likely, that clammoring is happening at a far younger age than you ever dreamed. More times than you imagined you would, you are handing them your phones, your iPods, even your kindles…. just to keep them occupied.
This morning, I spent some time on the set of KMOV, chatting about kids and technology…. what is appropriate based on age, how much money parents are willing to spend AND what is the role of games vs imagination and education.
As I always do when I am researching topics like this, I don’t only head to basic stats…. I want to know what YOU are doing. So, I ask. And I have to confess, I was a touch surprised. More and more parents are moving away from traditional ‘kid’s technology’ and putting what you might consider to be ‘adult technology’ in little hands.
Here’s the segment on Great Day. You can read below for some of the highlights.
(Updated September 7, 2018 – video no longer available)
- Technology is not, and never will be, a replacement for old-school imagination…it is an addition, and an important one.
- Parents are starting EARLIER than ever before… Leapsters and the like used to be given to 4 and 5 year old children, but now many parents are starting their kids at 2 and 3 (or younger)
- A lof of the focus of technology is truly education based: Parents give the Kindle to encourage reading, the iPod shuffle to encourage a love of music, and many of the apps on the iPad are education based – focusing on math, history and reading.
- Hand me downs technology is popular. Parents are buying the ‘new’ for themselves and ‘passing down’ the 2nd generation to their kids.
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