Study Claims 38 Percent of Children Under Two have used a Mobile Device

A new study was recently released by a nonprofit  focused on educating families about technology and media, Common Sense Media. They have found that 38 percent of children under the age of two have used a mobile device.

The study was obviously taken by parents and not the children, and involved 1,463 parents with children that are 8 or younger. A similar study was conducted in 2011 returning results of about 10 percent in that age group (2 and under) had used mobile devices. In the 2011 study, the whole age range from 0 to 8 was sitting at 38%, while the latest study pushed those numbers up to 75%. While the average on-screen time tripled from 5 minutes a day to 15.

None of those numbers should be all that surprising when you consider the various children centric and focused devices that have been released over the last few years. For instance, the Vinci and Nabi tablets. Even Ematic and LeapFrog have some sort of tablet out geared towards keeping our kids entertained and learning while on the go. Then you have devices like the Sony Xperia Z that is dust and water resistant and life proof cases for various other devices. Handing our devices to our toddlers is less scary than it used to be.

As a parent though, I still wonder if it is a good or bad thing that children this young are starting to get sucked into the mobile sphere. Every parent is different in their thoughts and how they raise their children. For me, my 3 year old knows what my phone is and not to touch it. He, on very rare occasions, might watch a few minutes of a cartoon show while we wait for mom to come out after her shift. For the most part, we build things with lego, play with trucks in the dirt and toss balls around.

There are plenty of our followers that have children, do your children in the 0 – 8 age range frequently use mobile devices? Is it for learning purposes or mainly as a “baby sitter”?

Via CNet