The iPad and parenting

Sorry, I'm confused. Was this an blog post?

my 18 month old http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UxE6LpA2QQ

Where this post breaks down - and where most blog posts that are commentary on a news item break down - is in failing to clearly demarcate where the facts/data leave off and opinion picks up.

Common Sense Media is sort of like the Pew Internet Life project ... the data they gather are presented in an essentially value-neutral format (we asked x people y question. Z responded.) I have come to trust their data and recommendations because the information is presented in a level-headed, straightforward manner.

I think the post's author wanders off the data path and into opinion as she opens he 2nd graf. "These mobile devices have a darker side though." Without a "We believe" or "I think", the reader might reasonably be led to believe that the two grafs that follow are part of the Common Sense Media release. In fact, no such positions are put forth in the study itself. (http://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/zerotoeightfinal2011.pdf)

Further, if the "darker side" portion was attributable to someone at Common Sense Media as a reaction/response to the study, that should have been made clear.

If this post is picked up and used without some form of clarification, we are just a few news cycles away from this being reported as "Common Sense Media decries the dark side of technology." (And don't even imagine what the punditocracy will do with it then :) )

I don't in any way begrudge the author her right/job of putting forth an opinion on the research. In fact, I agree with her assertion that "the line of appropriate usage will become even more difficult for parents to define." But analysis/opinion pieces, and their readers, are served best when the lines between data-driven fact and opinion are clearly visible to the reader.

Hyper-focused attribution has always been a thin bright line for journalists. It should become more of one for bloggers.

On my local newspaper's website the same issue came up and 99% of people were against kids using any tech. But here all comments so far are positive. I think in the non-Apple blog reading world much of the time anti iPad people don't know what they are against and would be convinced if they had a bit of a play on it.

My daughter likes to read Peter Rabbit on my iPhone. Detractors would be horrified that she's two and on my phone. But if they had a look they'd see it's just the same as her reading the book except it fits better in my bag!

The amount of adult supervision required is a function of developmental age, not chronological age:
http://www.tuaw.com/2011/11/01/how-not-to-buy-an-iphone/

My kids use my iPad too . . . however my wife and I worry about the cellular components (much like the iPhone) because it is always sitting in our children's lap and we worry about it causing cancer or future problems. Are we just crazy or should we be concerned? What does everyone else think?

Drawing the line way before anything put out by Disney is a good place to start. Those people are way too good at pushing our kids' own buttons.

Nice post :)
One thing I'd like to mention is that everything that we invent has this dark side to it too. I mean, two or three generations back, even with indoor toys, ppl would have said, "Oh look, these toys are making our kids forget the benefits of playing games outside!" :P
Nevertheless, it's we as users (parents) who should draw the line between fair use and addiction. :)

I often hear the argument that children becoming "absorbed into their own world" with respect to devices like iPad, video games, television or whatever other device people think is somehow being misused. Why does no one ever mention that one also gets "absorbed into their own world" when reading a book. Do you suppose 15th century parents complained that books distracted "imaginative outdoor play and keeps them from fully interacting with their parents". It's silly to blame objects for bad parenting. These iOS devices are no different than any other device every created and like anything can be used correctly or incorrectly. Parenting skills boil down to the people not the objects, and it's a lazy excuse to blame these instead of taking personal responsibility for exercising good judgment and doing what is necessary to be a good parent.

My kids use our iPad all the time... They manage themselves pretty well for thier age. Fort the cost concern, that is what a good case/screen protector, and accidental damage insurance is for...