You have almost certainly heard the term “iPad Kid” before, and it was probably meant as an insult.
The iPad Kid’s general definition is a kid, elementary aged and younger, who is seemingly addicted to their screen. People most often criticize them in public, where they may be looking at an iPad or other device during a family restaurant dinner or at the store with their parents.
Kids have more screen time than ever.
Source: American Academy of Pediatrics
Source: Safety Detectives
Having more screen time than the recommended amount is so normalized that it can be easy to ignore. But it’s a real issue for people of all ages. Kids are particularly impacted because they are still in development, and researchers aren’t entirely sure of all the long-term effects of excessive childhood screentime yet. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, children ages 2-5 should have less than one hour a day. Through simple observation, it’s pretty clear this standard is not always followed. The recommended time amounts can be flexible though, depending on educational activity.
Can educational tech still harm kids?
In many guidelines like the AAP’s, exceptions are made for screentime within classrooms. This is a tricky line to walk. Educational technology can certainly help kids learn, but it doesn’t negate certain affects tech tends to have, like lowering attention span.
The attention spans of young students are in danger.
Source: Today’s Parent
Excessive use of fast paced media like TikTok severely decreases students’ attention spans. Poor attention spans prevents students from engaging deeply with learning and can lead to negative mental health effects.
One method educators use to combat (or submit to) short attention spans is bite sized learning. Also called microlearning, bite sized learning is the practice of breaking information down into small, manageable chunks. These lessons focus on one learning objective at a time and only take between 1 to 15 minutes. This method only gives students the essentials of a lesson, which can later be expanded if necessary.
Bite sized learning adapts teaching methods in order to fit the new functioning of children’s brains. Keeping learning methods as they are currently could leave kids behind. It’s not a young child’s fault if they have such a high amount of screen time that they can’t keep up with school. However, many argue that we should focus on bringing our children’s attention spans back to past averages instead.
The youngest generation of “iPad Kids” represent a lot of tough questions for today’s elementary schools. What screen time limits should be enforced? Does educational tech need to be reduced? How can we teach kids content they understand without being forced to water down lessons?
I definitely agree that there is a need for more research on how effective online learning is. I’m a bit skeptical myself, because the lessons I remember most from my own schooling were not online activities. In the HDFS department, all the professors strongly encourage writing notes by hand because the research supports that you retain more information than you would when typing notes. Bite-sized learning feels like a band-aid solution, when the only way kids will extend their attention span is through practice. I think even in college there’s been this transition to bite-sized learning, because a lot of my readings have been short articles instead of full books. I’ve seen a lot of op-eds from professors that students can’t keep up with the reading like they used to (probably because most of us grew up as iPad kids).
I won’t lie, I was quite excited to stumble upon a blog post titled “iPad Kids”. It always strikes when, as my neighborhood babysitter, I have parents telling me where the kids’ tablets are hidden and how to not let the kids bully me into watching TV while their parents are out of the house. As a child in a generation where making mud pie was mainstream, it is disheartening for me to have to introduce sidewalk chalk and sharks and minnows to a generation whose entertainment takes place largely on a screen. I think you pose an interesting argument by claiming that even educational technology has its drawbacks, especially when it comes to face-to-face social development in children. I wonder if behavioral problems associated to attention span and social development could be improved through restricting screen time? All in all, I enjoyed your take on technology in this blog, as I have witnessed the effects you described in your blog in real time and agree that screen time ought to be limited for children.
You’ve made some great points about how the rise in screen time is impacting kids, especially with how much it’s normalized. I can definitely relate, as I used to be a “tablet kid” myself, always on my device when I was younger. Now, I rely on my iPad for taking notes, so it’s interesting to see how things have come full circle with tech being both a tool for learning and a potential distraction. The shift to microlearning seems like a smart way to adapt to shorter attention spans, but I wonder if it might set the bar too low for what kids should be able to focus on. Do you think we should focus more on reducing screen time overall, or should we find a way to make screen-based learning more interactive and engaging without sacrificing depth?