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2 Year Old has iPhone (Does that make us bad parents?)
- Thread starter Exegesis48
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Your argument is based on an assumption that you are making.
How do you know that an iPhone will hinder a 2 year old's development? Where are you getting these facts from?
I guess me, my sister and my cousins are all special kids then because we all grew up with technology and we learned handwriting AND typing; we learned to draw on the computer AND on paper: we learned to research stuff online (when we got internet) AND on a library or encyclopedia.
But hey, don't let my facts ruin your assumptions.
Not just an iPhone but all technology. As a child develops they need to be hands on, this is why they have toys designed just for infants. It helps motor skills and learning. Phones are just static devices
Where you born with an iphone in your hands? Every generation will be saturated more than the last with tech. If we don't balance it out kids will become too dependent on it. Teachers are already complaining that kids don't have penmanship anymore because everything is typed and texted.I guess me, my sister and my cousins are all special kids then because we all grew up with technology and we learned handwriting AND typing; we learned to draw on the computer AND on paper: we learned to research stuff online (when we got internet) AND on a library or encyclopedia.
But hey, don't let my facts ruin your assumptions.
Your jump off point is still from an all-or-none position. Why? None of us are advocating that.
The iPhone/iPad can be used as an incredible learning tool if used properly.
Baby toys, music, computers, iPhone/iPad apps, coloring, making funny sounds, interaction, etc...... all of these (and others) combined are important in the development of a child.
Great. I'm a little jealous.
What do most people in this thread know about childhood cognitive development? Very little. My hunch is that it's possibly better to give a young child an interactive toy of sorts than parking them in front of TV. Concerns about phone radiation and its effect on developing brains might have some merit, but I wouldn't know where to start on sifting through the genuine evidence.
I don't think they have studies going back far enough to see what kind of effects a Phone or any of these gadgets would have in a child's development.Great. I'm a little jealous.
What do most people in this thread know about childhood cognitive development? Very little. My hunch is that it's possibly better to give a young child an interactive toy of sorts than parking them in front of TV. Concerns about phone radiation and its effect on developing brains might have some merit, but I wouldn't know where to start on sifting through the genuine evidence.
Then don't be so sure about your opinions.
So? Do you want to know how many years I spent at school learning and using a slide-rule and trig tables? Nobody cares that those skills have been superseded.
I would hope writing skills is something that would never go out of date. If we get so dependent on computers and they should ever fail we are in trouble.
The simple skill of note taking is becoming a lost art.
This.
I am willing to experiment using a good mix of learning tools, including the iPhone and iPad, with my son.
I'll post back here once he's POTUS.
The issue is that the more we rely on computers the simple pen and paper approach will get lost.
Says who? You? I don't agree with that.
Writing is still a very useful way to communicate, and I anticipate that it will continue to be that way for a long time to come.
My son will learn both writing and typing..... just like I did.
Lots of things become lost arts. Hand-sewn book-binding is becoming a lost art. I had to do a project earlier this year involving Victorian typography, no-one uses type like that anymore, very few can even manage the type of calligraphy. Are we in a better place than the Victorians? Yes.
You have yet to present anything approaching proof that this is a bad thing. Feeling that it is so and sentimentality do not make it so. The encroachment of the pen and paper wiped out oral traditions in many societies. Was the usage of pen and paper a bad thing?
An iPhone is just like anything else you give a child. Depending on how it's given, the parental control , attention and shared experiences built around the object it may be good or bad. A book, on it's own, is not likely to be all that effective. A book, shared and enjoyed together between parent and child, that's a good thing. Same with TV (sitting the child in front of TV and going away bad, sitting, discussing and using the TV to further discovery and wonder good).
I think you worry too much. Even kids who grow up around electronics - and my son got his first computer at age three - still like to write, and draw, and play with Play-Doh, and build stuff with Legos, ride bikes, etc.
Don't get caught up in the hype of thinking that because it's electronic, it's novel and "cooler" to them, and therefore they will play with it more; no, to a child growing up around all this technology, it's just one of many toys available. My son still loves to go to the store and pick out a Hot Wheels car, or a bouncy ball, or a set of glitter pens, just as much as he enjoys a new computer game.
The "art" of writing, drawing, etc. with pen and paper is absolutely not being lost on kids today.
(this coming from a parent and a spouse of a grade school teacher)
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Wow, I thought I caught heat for my four year old daughter having her own PC and iPod touch!
My kid has what she has because her dad is a tech junkie and she always expressed an interest in what I did in my office or what shiny new Apple toy I brought home. Tech is one of the many things me and my daughter bond over which is important to me.
Anyway OP, why even sweat what anyone thinks? As long as you teach your kid right from wrong, the golden rule, the birds and the bee's and all that other jazz everything will be all right.
My kid has what she has because her dad is a tech junkie and she always expressed an interest in what I did in my office or what shiny new Apple toy I brought home. Tech is one of the many things me and my daughter bond over which is important to me.
Anyway OP, why even sweat what anyone thinks? As long as you teach your kid right from wrong, the golden rule, the birds and the bee's and all that other jazz everything will be all right.
Within reason, yes. I just think an iPhone at the age of 2 is a little daft and is spoiling the child.
I do too. But it's possible that it will not happen. I doubt they will remember what it was or anything about it, though.
