According to a recent study, one in five children in the UK by the age of three or four owns their own mobile phone, but these tools still have benefits, experts said on Friday.
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“When children are doing homework, watching an educational app, chatting with a grandparent, dancing to a music video, playing a game with a sibling, there is no indication that this is a problem. , and some evidence that it’s more of an advantage,” replied Sonia Livingstone, a professor of social psychology at the London School of Economics, according to The Guardian.
A recent study by UK telecoms regulator Ofcom showed that almost one in five children aged three or four in the UK already own a mobile phone.
Those high numbers aren’t that alarming, however, according to English media, according to experts, who are trying to deflect the negative narrative associated with “screen time” and instead focus on the various benefits of this technology.
It all depends on the context and usage, in their opinion.
“Too much cell phone time becomes important when it comes at the expense of parent-child interaction – the most important thing of all – as well as sufficient sleep or physical exercise,” the professor continues.
“If they use apps that help them learn words, it can be beneficial for their development. [À l’inverse]fast-paced, more extreme, action-based entertainment that doesn’t require much from the child might make it harder for children to make sense of what they’re seeing,” said Professor Tim Smith, a cognitive psychologist at Birkbeck University.
According to the report, most young children use these devices to watch videos, which they could do from an ordinary computer or television for safety reasons, said Professor Pete Etchells of the University of Bath Spa.
“If they may have unregulated access to their own devices, it opens up the possibility of stealthy use of technology, and this increases the risk of accessing inappropriate content,” he explains.
However, it is difficult to properly assess the advantages or disadvantages of this technology when developing from a database, as many factors must be taken into account.
For example, one of the rare longitudinal studies on young children showed that 12-month-old babies who used the touchscreen intensively achieved worse results in concentration and memory from the age of three.
However, another possible interpretation of these results would suggest that toddlers who are more restless and may be predisposed to lower scores on concentration and memory would be more likely to receive a device from their parents to calm them down.