Parental Reports on Touch Screen Use in Early Childhood.

Touch screens are increasingly prevalent, and anecdotal evidence suggests that young children are very drawn towards them. Yet there is little data regarding how young children use them. A brief online questionnaire queried over 450 French parents of infants between the ages of 5 and 40 months on th...

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Main Authors: Alejandrina Cristia, Amanda Seidl
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2015-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4470913?pdf=render
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author Alejandrina Cristia
Amanda Seidl
author_facet Alejandrina Cristia
Amanda Seidl
author_sort Alejandrina Cristia
collection DOAJ
description Touch screens are increasingly prevalent, and anecdotal evidence suggests that young children are very drawn towards them. Yet there is little data regarding how young children use them. A brief online questionnaire queried over 450 French parents of infants between the ages of 5 and 40 months on their young child's use of touch-screen technology. Parents estimated frequency of use, and further completed several checklists. Results suggest that, among respondent families, the use of touch screens is widespread in early childhood, meaning that most children have some exposure to touch screens. Among child users, certain activities are more frequently reported to be liked than others, findings that we discuss in light of current concern for children's employment of time and the cognitive effects of passive media exposure. Additionally, these parental reports point to clear developmental trends for certain types of interactive gestures. These results contribute to the investigation of touch screen use on early development and suggest a number of considerations that should help improve the design of applications geared towards toddlers, particularly for scientific purposes.
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spelling doaj.art-56be9a71bced471f863ec1037cfc60712022-12-22T01:47:05ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032015-01-01106e012833810.1371/journal.pone.0128338Parental Reports on Touch Screen Use in Early Childhood.Alejandrina CristiaAmanda SeidlTouch screens are increasingly prevalent, and anecdotal evidence suggests that young children are very drawn towards them. Yet there is little data regarding how young children use them. A brief online questionnaire queried over 450 French parents of infants between the ages of 5 and 40 months on their young child's use of touch-screen technology. Parents estimated frequency of use, and further completed several checklists. Results suggest that, among respondent families, the use of touch screens is widespread in early childhood, meaning that most children have some exposure to touch screens. Among child users, certain activities are more frequently reported to be liked than others, findings that we discuss in light of current concern for children's employment of time and the cognitive effects of passive media exposure. Additionally, these parental reports point to clear developmental trends for certain types of interactive gestures. These results contribute to the investigation of touch screen use on early development and suggest a number of considerations that should help improve the design of applications geared towards toddlers, particularly for scientific purposes.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4470913?pdf=render
spellingShingle Alejandrina Cristia
Amanda Seidl
Parental Reports on Touch Screen Use in Early Childhood.
PLoS ONE
title Parental Reports on Touch Screen Use in Early Childhood.
title_full Parental Reports on Touch Screen Use in Early Childhood.
title_fullStr Parental Reports on Touch Screen Use in Early Childhood.
title_full_unstemmed Parental Reports on Touch Screen Use in Early Childhood.
title_short Parental Reports on Touch Screen Use in Early Childhood.
title_sort parental reports on touch screen use in early childhood
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4470913?pdf=render
work_keys_str_mv AT alejandrinacristia parentalreportsontouchscreenuseinearlychildhood
AT amandaseidl parentalreportsontouchscreenuseinearlychildhood