Technology foe babies?
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Technology foe babies?
| Sun, 03-11-2012 - 2:15pm |
I have been thinking about this one for awhile now and am not certain how I feel about it.
When we were raising our babies, we were warned about how bad TV was for them, but I always figured that it was OK in moderation. My grandson sees very little TV, but he's pretty attached to his daddy's smart phone. My son in law has put a number of apps on his phone that are there solely to entertain the baby while his parents are doing chores around the house or studying. They do interact with him a lot, I would have to say he spends an hour a day or less with the apps. So what do you ladies think? Just the next generation's way of occupying the baby for short times, or a not so great idea that is bad for babies?
When we were raising our babies, we were warned about how bad TV was for them, but I always figured that it was OK in moderation. My grandson sees very little TV, but he's pretty attached to his daddy's smart phone. My son in law has put a number of apps on his phone that are there solely to entertain the baby while his parents are doing chores around the house or studying. They do interact with him a lot, I would have to say he spends an hour a day or less with the apps. So what do you ladies think? Just the next generation's way of occupying the baby for short times, or a not so great idea that is bad for babies?
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I'm not a fan.
I have never seen any of the baby phone apps so I don't know what the baby might learn from playing with them, but it doesn't sound like a very good idea to me. The first thing I thought of was that eventually the baby will drop or throw the phone...how does he hold it now, is he sitting on the floor? And there's the issue of EMR, I know that many insist that cell phones pose no threat (and I don't hold an opinion one way or the other) but that's what has been said about other things that turned out to have a risk...I don't think I would want to unnecessarily expose my vulnerable baby to a potential danger.
I understand that parents cannot interact with the baby all of the time and I think that children do need to learn to entertain themselves, but when there are so many toys and everyday objects that the baby can play with and learn motor skills etc...why plug him into a tiny monitor?
It must be tough to be the grandma and worry about how something untested is going to affect your precious grandbaby, knowing that the most you can do is offer an opinion.
I love the toys that are out today as most of them provide some form of interaction for the babies but one of my favourites is still a pot & a wooden spoon. Noise level is horrible at times but they love it so much. Walkers are banned in Canada. You can try to smuggle one across the border but they will seize it if they see it. Instead they use these exercisers which have lots of things to keep a little one busy. One of Noah's favourite toys was a baby cell phone, it played music. I would be more apt to give a child one of these rather than my good cell.
Things are changing from our day. I can't find Saturday morning cartoons on many channels anymore unlike when my kids were small but I do find lots of educational tv shows which at first I rebelled against letting Noah watch but then I realized how much he was getting out of them. Again we allow in moderation but if I never see that purple dinosaur again, it will make my life complete.
My DD & SIL let Noah play video games. Some of which I don't agree with but they say it's good for his hand eye coordination. He has played wii since he was about 2. Since he has limited mobility, it was good for him as he could play all the sports as in most cases the action happens from the controller held in your hand. Plus we all played with him. Now he is into killing games which I don't like. They said he thinks it's all make believe & therefore it isn't harmful. I disagree but you learn to keep quiet after you speak your peace.
Dee
I've never seen the Baby Einstein series so I cannot comment on that but I believe that my kids learned a lot from Sesame Street. Starting at 1yo we let our kids watch an hour a day of Sesame Street, that was the only TV they watched until they were around 4. Then we started allowing occasional viewing of Disney movies, and some cartoons on Sat morning to buy ourselves some additional sleep LOL but also as they were more frequently outside of our direct supervision we found that many other people did not share our attitudes about appropriate television viewing and the kids were going to get exposure there. I remember going to my SIL's and finding that my nephew (then about 3 or 4yo) had a tv in his bedroom and was watching Magnum PI. I was apalled but all I could do was ask that the tv be turned off while my ds was there playing.
Dee.
I have a couple of matching games on my tablet that Noah likes to play. Also have one game that makes cupcakes. Again with anything, it's moderation.
Dee
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I read, just recently, that use of computer software (I'd assume apps fit in here) lowers a chid's IQ.