How IPads And Smartphones Affect Children Under 2 Years Of Age
The use of electronic devices, such as iPads and smartphones, by children has been highly debated from various perspectives, mainly due to its effects on the health and socialization of children.
Those who warn about the dangers that it could generate to health, usually argue with some indications of important conditions such as tumors and cancer. However, it is also valid to say that to date no conclusive results have been found in research indicating that this is the case.
In any case, prudence never hurts, especially if we consider the following fully testable arguments.
It has been said that the indiscriminate use of electronic devices, including smartphones and Ipads, favors a sedentary lifestyle which is one of the main causes of obesity in the world, whose rates have been undeniably rising, especially among children and young people.
From a social perspective, criticism has been directed towards the lack of socialization that encourages excessive use of these devices, as some children often prefer to “interact” with the telephone rather than other children.
How iPads and smartphones affect children under 2 years of age
Babies need to move
Regardless of whether or not we consider valid the research that is postulated against the use of these devices, we have to think that babies under 2 years of age (and older as well) need to explore their environment to achieve their development : crawling, walking, climbing, jump, roll, dance, run, etc. But, all this is not achieved through a tablet sitting in an armchair.
Brain development (neurodevelopment) in children is a process that begins in the womb but lasts up to 4 or 5 years after birth. Since during this period brain structures continue to form, as do synapses (junctions between neurons). In this, experience and the need for orgamism play a fundamental role in generating responses to the demands of the environment. But, how can watching videos on mom’s or dad’s cell phone help neurodevelopment?
Children need to know their body and learn to control it from experience, even if it messes up the house and creates noise.
Babies need to experiment with their senses
Neurodevelopment also implies that the nervous system knows how to process the information that enters through the five senses and is able to use it to learn. In addition, it is important that babies can assimilate vestibular (balance and movement) and proprioceptive (sensations from the body) stimuli.
All this is achieved by playing, discovering new textures and temperatures, using musical instruments, going to the park, swinging, singing, getting dirty, etc., and not playing the fashionable game on the iPad.
Ipads and smartphones prevent communication from developing
Knowing how to communicate is not seeing images on the iPad and naming them, knowing how to communicate is being able to let another know what we want to say and also being able to understand what others are saying to us and what happens around us. Having vocabulary is important, but that is not communication.
Babies learn to communicate by interacting with people, not machines, listening to mom, playing with siblings and cousins, in kindergarten, solving problems, singing, listening to stories.
It is communication that allows them to develop social skills, that children grow up being able to respect the opinions of others, to wait their turn when playing, to know how to listen, to look into the eyes when we speak and speak to us. None of this is learned with your mom or dad’s cell phone.
Babies need to develop basic notions
Basic notions are concepts that are learned through experience, we talk about things like spatial notions (up, down, near, far, in front, behind, inside, outside) and temporal (before, after, first than, fast, slow , during).
Other concepts such as weight, similarity and distance are included. Certainly there are games on electronic devices that address these concepts. However, they do not allow the child to learn what is up, or which toy is heavier than another, for example. They only serve to evoke what is already known through experience in order to select the correct answer.
Ipads and smartphones: not everything is so bad
Smartphones and iPads will not cause irreversible harm to your baby as long as they never replace the experience. That is, do not spend time teaching games of these devices, rather invest that time and effort in playing with him outdoors if possible, if not with his toys. Only then will you be developing your child’s intelligence, although sometimes social pressure makes us think otherwise.
A child who runs, laughs, falls, messes, dances and fights with his siblings is a sign of a child who is developing healthily.
Use the Ipad or smartphone perhaps when the situation really does not allow you to have the toys at hand. Select “educational games” without fooling yourself into thinking that you are really learning something. You’re just practicing something you’ve already learned by actually playing and the device is serving to keep you calm, just that.
