A recent story from CNN.com reported that more and more parents are handing their smartphones to their children to keep them entertained. The days of coloring books and action figures are over, but the need to keep children occupied certainly is not. People have always brought toys, or something to entertain their child, into restaurants and stores," says the mom, who lives in West Bloomfield, Michigan. "Now we just have better technology." It’s no surprise that the phone has filled the entertainment void for children, being that similar electronics such as TVs, video games, and personal computers have been doing it for years. The fact that phones are convenient, portable, and possess more options for parents makes it an easy decision. The article pushed this point, stating, “now more and more parents are discovering smartphones' similar ability to engage squirmy kids at restaurants, in the car and anywhere else where youngsters grow bored.”
The phone industries and application developers caught on as well. Looking beyond the fact that the phones themselves have touch screens, moving objects and bright colors that hold young eyes hostage, the content on the phones shows a clear market for children. The children’s application market is booming, and it seems to be going nowhere but up. Almost half of the top 100-selling education apps in the iTunes App Store were for preschool or elementary-aged children in November 2009, according to a content analysis by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, which promotes digital media technologies to advance children's learning. Expert Carly Shuler says the reason for this -- assuming the majority of 3- to 10-year-olds don't own their own phones -- is because adults are taking advantage of the smartphone's ability to act as a mobile learning or entertainment device for their children.
So the big question: why are children so fascinated with the smartphones? Shuler weighed in, saying, “When you look at the design of the iPhone ... the interface is very tactile and well suited to what a child naturally does, they think with their fingers. If they see something they like, they'll jab at it and touch it. And children love flipping things. If you flip the iPhone, something will happen. If you shake the iPhone, something will happen."
“Take a look at some of the best-selling toys throughout the years,” she said. “Kids have always loved to play with toy telephones, toy lawn mowers, toy ovens and toy vacuum cleaners. They like to play with things their parents have, considering how much time parents spend on [their phones], it makes sense that kids would want them, too."
Smartphones are now serving as a center for entertainment and education for children everywhere from restaurants to grocery stores. What advances do you see on the horizon for mobile devices and them being geared toward children?
The story: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/04/26/smartphones.kids/index.html
