Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Consumer Group Calls for Recall on iPad-Equipped Newborn 'Apptivity' Seat
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Ah, thank you. I was feeling very, very depressed after reading the "let the market decide" nonsense. My first child is only 1 and the next is still in the womb, so I am not sure how we will manage the time. So far, I think he's watched some preschool cartoons a total time of 2 or 3 hours in all his lifetime - and he wasn't all that interested. Obviously there will have to be screen time, but we'll keep a close eye on how, when, and why.
Again, thank you for your comment. It's comforting to know there's people like you.
For shorts periods I think there is nothing wrong with this if used for a good purpose. This makes a very good Facetime chair. I like the fact you can place the child there and start a facetime session with the grandparants or other family members that cannot visit so they can spend a little time interacting with the kid.
I see this is a good option when showing your kid Baby Einstein videos for 30 minutes per day. My kids did well with those videos when they were babies. Only problem is that we had twins and we would have still had to use the TV for Baby Einstein time unless we wanted to stagger the kids time in the chair.
You, on the other hand, make a flawless, brilliant argument. I bow to your shrewdness. And the propriety with which you ever-carefully pick your terms... Astonishing.
Activists, indeed.
How wonderfully condescending of you. Maybe you are so stupid that you need people to intervene for you, But, I'm quite fine making my own decisions thank you.
I don't mind there being groups out there that produce research telling me the dangers of doing "X", but I don't need them or the government taking away my rights to make my own decisions.
I hate ultra-liberal "you-need-us-to-make-decisions-for-you" BS.
Seems like lazy parenting, but it is no worse at face value the entire marketing branch of "little einstein" audio books that you'd deafen a fetus with. Actually, those things are worse due to the sound levels having to be so high to penetrate flesh and piercing to under-developed aural nerves. (I know the LE's have fallen out of favor, but that is only after years of being for sale to over-achieving parents)
I feel parents like that would do it regardless of an iPad. Bad parents exist.
I was going to say that it looks like something out of a Terry Gilliam movie.
Aside from all the gaping flaws in the "let the market decide" or "don't buy it if you don't like it" arguments already made, there's one I didn't notice: When a product is targeted specifically at infants or small children, the person doing the deciding is not the one who has the potential to be harmed by it if there is indeed something fundamentally wrong with the product. In some cases, in fact, the benefit may be to the actual person doing the buying, while the harm may be passed on to the infant.
Smoking around an infant, for example. The parent may enjoy it, but the infant has no choice and can be substantially damaged by the act.
Or take it a step farther--let's say there was a legal, over-the-counter sleep aid drug for infants. A lazy parent could, for their own benefit, just keep their infant drugged up to keep the kid from making too much noise. This would almost certainly cause irreparable damage to the child's development. The child has no ability to make a decision about this one way or the other--it is forced on them by the parent.
Any parent can abuse their child, but laws exist for the protection of children specifically because they are not able to do so themselves, and must rely completely on their parents to raise them. If lazy parents start strapping their kids into a seat with a colored light show on an iPad in front of their face so they can go watch a movie--being told it's "educational" while, let's say hypothetically it actually causes stunted cognitive development--that ranges from either criminally false marketing of a product that is explicitly harmful to infants if used as intended, to child neglect if the parent understands the hazards of it and uses it anyway.
If, indeed, doctors have determined you shouldn't have your kid with a screen in front of their face for any significant amount of time before the age of 2 lest it cause some sort of permanent issue, then a product designed to do exactly that should not exist, any more than "baby vodka" or My First E-Cig.
I can see the complaints now. "I didn't make the in-app purchases. It must have been my baby in it's new chair" 
.
.Put down the apple juice and think this out
This product is a danger to babies
It's sickening.
Well, this thread gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "nanny state", doesn't it.
Activists - of any kind, should be culled at birth!
Activists - of any kind, should be culled at birth!
What do you do?
Daycare is closed, because of hand foot, mouth virus outbreak
Your wife had to go to the office (works out of town)
You're working from home as a result of no daycare coverage
Your local backup coverage can't make it to watch your kid (parents)
You can't take your kid to another day care, because she has the same virus.
Your out of town coverage (in-laws) can't make it in time to watch your child.
You're on the hook for a critical deadline for work project
You can't call out sick or you're screwed.
You must attend back to back meetings the majority of the day.
What do you do? (and quitting is not an option)
NETFLIX!! THANK YOU JESUS!!!
Daycare is closed, because of hand foot, mouth virus outbreak
Your wife had to go to the office (works out of town)
You're working from home as a result of no daycare coverage
Your local backup coverage can't make it to watch your kid (parents)
You can't take your kid to another day care, because she has the same virus.
Your out of town coverage (in-laws) can't make it in time to watch your child.
You're on the hook for a critical deadline for work project
You can't call out sick or you're screwed.
You must attend back to back meetings the majority of the day.
What do you do? (and quitting is not an option)
NETFLIX!! THANK YOU JESUS!!!
You, my friend, are overreacting. It's not a danger to babies unless used in a dangerous manner. Maybe we should stop assuming that people are all bad and irresponsible.
Last edited:
Good. I signed it. Whether it's at all successful in determining the fate if this particular product, it should raise awareness about the problems these kids if contraptions present. Maybe it will help guide Fisher Price towards better releases in the future.
Ok, all you "but only the markets and corporations should have a say, how dare a group of people try to do something" -ers. Take it away.
Ok, all you "but only the markets and corporations should have a say, how dare a group of people try to do something" -ers. Take it away.
The "markets" have just about as much say as a rooster does at night.
You're talking about the same "markets" that gave us 3 airline bailouts, Enron, Tyco, MCI/Worldcom, predatory lending, credit default swaps, and golden parachutes for CEOs on the taxpayer's dime, all which resulted in two recessions in a 7 year period?
Those same markets? Really?
BL.
The "markets" have just about as much say as a rooster does at night.
You're talking about the same "markets" that gave us 3 airline bailouts, Enron, Tyco, MCI/Worldcom, predatory lending, credit default swaps, and golden parachutes for CEOs on the taxpayer's dime, all which resulted in two recessions in a 7 year period?
Those same markets? Really?
BL.
No, I mean the people who go to market and buy things - let them decide.
As for the straw-man, they also involved people. Are you saying that only certain people be allowed into the market-place?