Jessica\u2019s tiny fingers dart around the iPad, swiping through photos to get to a particularly entertaining video: a 12-second clip of her dancing clumsily to Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s Single Ladies<\/em>. The 18-month-old taps \u201cplay\u201d and emits a squeal of delight.<\/p>\n After watching the video twice, she navigates back to the home screen and opens up the YouTube app to watch an episode of the colourful animation\u00a0Billy Bam Bam<\/em>. Halfway through, she moves onto a\u00a0Yo Gabba Gabba!\u00a0<\/em>game, which involves anthropomorphised fruits making their way into a character\u2019s belly.<\/p>\n When Jessica\u2019s mum, Sandy, tries to take away the iPad, there\u2019s a tantrum that threatens to go nuclear: wobbly lip, tears, hands balled into fists and a high-pitched wail. \u201cShe does this a lot,\u201d says Sandy. \u201cShe seems to prefer the iPad to everything else. Sometimes it\u2019s the only thing that will keep her quiet,\u201d she adds, frantically waving a pink fluffy unicorn in an attempt to appease her daughter.<\/p>\n Like many parents, she\u2019s worried about her child\u2019s obsession with screens. She wants to know which activities are best, and how much time spent on screens is too much.<\/p>\n It\u2019s six years\u00a0since the launch of the iPad<\/a>\u00a0and, with it, the rebirth of tablet computers. The academic research simply hasn\u2019t been able to catch up, which means it\u2019s hard to know the long-term impact on young brains of being exposed to tablets and smartphones.<\/p>\n The concern among some experts is that these devices, if used in particular ways, could be changing children\u2019s brains for the worse \u2013 potentially affecting their attention, motor control, language skills and eyesight, especially in under-fives, for whom so much brain development is taking place.<\/p>\n Technology companies and app developers are throwing their marketing prowess at the problem, slapping words like \u201ceducational\u201d and \u201ce-learning\u201d on their products, often without any scientific basis. So what are parents to do?<\/p>\nReference:<\/h4>\n
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