Affiliation:
1. University of Athens, Greece
Abstract
This chapter investigated young children's use of tablets at home and parents' views on tablet benefits and their concerns. A questionnaire was completed by the parents of 100 children aged 4-6. Young children engage in a range of activities such as playing games (76%), watching cartoons (75%), listening to music (65%), watching videos (60%), and using educational apps (54%). Fewer children look at pictures/photos/books or take pictures, while visiting websites and using email are never carried out by most of the children. Gender and age had an occasional isolated impact on children's tablet activities. 4-5 year olds tend to do tablet activities with an adult, while 5.5-6.5 year olds with siblings or alone. Most parents “agree and strongly agree” that tablets “teach basic technology skills” (85%), “teach foreign languages”, and “can make learning fun”. The parents' main concerns included dependence, reduction of communication, and inappropriate content. Implications regarding links between home and kindergarten are discussed.
Reference50 articles.
1. Young children (0-8) and digital technology 0-8. What changes in one year? National report SPAIN.;C.Aliagas;Papers Infancia,2017
2. ArcherK. (2017). Infants, toddlers and mobile technology: examining parental choices and the impact of early technology introduction on cognitive and motor development. (Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive), Wilfrid Laurier University).
3. Digital devices, internet-enabled toys and digital games: The changing nature of young children's learning ecologies, experiences and pedagogies
4. Internet of toys across home and early childhood education: understanding the ecology of the child’s social world
5. Chaudron, S. (2015). Young children (0-8) and digital technology: a qualitative exploratory study across seven countries. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.