Infants 'Unable To Use Toy Blocks' Due To iPad Addiction

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Good job Apple, not only are you turning adults into mental midgets, now you are ruining our children too! Damn you Apple!

Rising numbers of infants lack the motor skills needed to play with building blocks because of an “addiction” to tablet computers and smartphones, according to teachers. Many children aged just three or four can “swipe a screen” but have little or no dexterity in their fingers after spending hours glued to iPads, it was claimed.
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my 3 year old loves to build shit, and he owns my score in temple run... I guess mines an acception?
 
My kid is about to turn 4 months old. I am determined to have him grow up playing with the things I did as a kid that have endless creative possibilities. Tinker toys, Lincoln logs, lego's and physical motion toys like a train set. Yeah sure he will have an electronic device of some kind since I play PC games and he likes to watch, but it somewhat worries how much the very young have their neck stuck into phones and tablets these days.
 
i cant edit my post... but my 1 year old loves physical stuff. I dont think hes really touch an eletronic yet
 
Shhhiiit, please! I call out to parents to actually raise their kids and teach them critical thinking skills along with what we called back in the day "common sense" which is now "rare sense". Also, a dose of " you can't have anything you want" and "you're not special" thrown in for good measure.

P.S. a spanking here and there if they need it too.;)
 
Having seen this first hand, a lot, unfortunately this may become a larger issue as these children grow up.

Deficiency in developing fine motor skills while the young brain in growing at amsuch a fast rate can have far reaching effects.... :(

I will say now, this will become a major issue while more studies examine this.
 
Good job Mom and Dad. Parenting at it's finest! Turning off wi-fi is even better advice.
 
My 3 1/2 year old son does like to play some of the kiddy game apps on mine and the wife's phones and flip through some of family videos with taken on our phones, but we don't let him use it hours at a time. Maybe 10 minutes here than there.

He spends most of his play time playing with his Thomas the train toys.
 
I knew a kid in school with no motor skills, could barely write... but he was like super-brain IQ of 180 or somethin... funny thing is, when he really put his mind to it, he could write just fine and produce sculptures even, but get him in front of anything time-critical like a video game and he'd lose. I never saw him run either. His eating habits were also strange, like a chicken pecking at the ground.

Anyways, I don't see this as a big problem. It means the folks with good hand-eye coordination are simply more rare and maybe get payed more for their special abilities. Eventually robots will be able to do lots of that stuff too, so I'm just not seeing a huge issue here.

Maybe population growth slows down because these folks can't figure it out, I dunno... but that's a good thing... too many people in this world.
 
bucketlist said:
Shhhiiit, please! I call out to parents to actually raise their kids and teach them critical thinking skills along with what we called back in the day "common sense" which is now "rare sense". Also, a dose of " you can't have anything you want" and "you're not special" thrown in for good measure.

P.S. a spanking here and there if they need it too.;)
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No, it's call UNcommon sense now, because it isn't very common anymore.
 
what a study my kids do both and do both well. But as with life if you don't have the skill you have to learn it. Remember parents take time to "unplug" your kids for electronics.
 
My kid isn't getting a smart phone until they're able to work and buy one. You've got to be fucking kidding. I managed to survive without any cell phone at all until I was 22, and I only got one because I had to coordinate schedules with two jobs.
 
That_Sound_Guy said:
My kid is about to turn 4 months old. I am determined to have him grow up playing with the things I did as a kid that have endless creative possibilities. Tinker toys, Lincoln logs, lego's and physical motion toys like a train set. Yeah sure he will have an electronic device of some kind since I play PC games and he likes to watch, but it somewhat worries how much the very young have their neck stuck into phones and tablets these days.
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It's all about balance. Using a tablet/phone as a babysitter isn't much diference than using a TV. Kids need have a variety of balanced activities for proper developement, both physical and mental.

My kid started using the computer (simple point & click games) when she was 1.
However, she also had, and spent most her time with wooden blocks, duplos,legos other physical toys. She's better than I ever was at drawing and making things out of modeling clay :)
 
Parenting is overrated anyway. IMO its a lot more effective to outsource child production to India, they clearly have a comparative advantage... its economics 101.
 
Ducman69 said:
Parenting is overrated anyway. IMO its a lot more effective to outsource child production to India, they clearly have a comparative advantage... its economics 101.
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This x 1,000,000! Seriously, add like the 9 months of baking one to the outsourcing process and you can shut up and take my money! :)
 
Parents (and I use this term loosely) need to stop using electronics as baby sitters. I too have fallen into the trap at times, but my son also like board and card based games, which are far better for family interaction. In my experience, people tend to get tunnel vision when it comes to electronics, and pretty much shut out the world around them.

nutzo is right about balance. Too much of anything can be bad, so limits are necessary.
 
Maybe my wife and I are an exception, but we don't allow our kids to play with our phones or any touch devices really. Every now and then we let our 4 year old play on my wifes kindle but that is pretty rare. We just dont see any reason for it, our kids have plenty of other toys and those kinds of devices to us are not typical entertainment devices.

What we do allow is computer time. I have a 'family' PC setup in their play area (living room) with a kids keyboard and mouse and he is allowed to play games on pbs.org and such as well as watch episodes of his cartoons on there. He's also allowed to watch a show or 2 each day on tv. Both of these things are limited to 1-2 (only 2 hours if he switches off from doing interactive/non-interactive) hours a day.

Honestly, any pediatrician will tell parents this. Its funny how people listen to their Dr when their kid is sick but otherwise generally think they know better somehow. I guess people just do only what is convenient for them.
 
nutzo said:
It's all about balance. Using a tablet/phone as a babysitter isn't much diference than using a TV. Kids need have a variety of balanced activities for proper developement, both physical and mental.

My kid started using the computer (simple point & click games) when she was 1.
However, she also had, and spent most her time with wooden blocks, duplos,legos other physical toys. She's better than I ever was at drawing and making things out of modeling clay :)
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I hope to meet in the middle of education versus fun so we'll see what happens. We only have digital rabbit ear TV so hopefully TV isn't much the distraction. Thankfully my parents saved all of my toys from when I was a kid and I don't need to spend $1000 on 100 Legos bricks. I replaced my old arsenic based Lincoln logs with plastic ones though, just in case the old rumor is true. :p
 
All this new technology is raising a generation of weaklings.
 
Krenum said:
All this new technology is raising a generation of weaklings.
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Yeah! So true! We need to go back to what worked for the last generation of weaklings that were raised by Nintendo and Sega consoles or the one before that that was raised by Magnavox and Panasonic TVs or the one that was raised by IBM computers.
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
Yeah! So true! We need to go back to what worked for the last generation of weaklings that were raised by Nintendo and Sega consoles or the one before that that was raised by Magnavox and Panasonic TVs or the one that was raised by IBM computers.
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At least all those generation you mentioned could play with blocks! :cool:
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
Yeah! So true! We need to go back to what worked for the last generation of weaklings that were raised by Nintendo and Sega consoles or the one before that that was raised by Magnavox and Panasonic TVs or the one that was raised by IBM computers.
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Theres a big difference with the latest generation of devices, they are mobile. No longer do kids need to learn to sit quietly with nothing but their thoughts, or sit at the dinner table when eating out interacting, or standing in line with their parents, or ride in a car staring out the window. Now, just give your kid a touch device and forget about them, they wont bother you now.
 
8du8 said:
Theres a big difference with the latest generation of devices, they are mobile. No longer do kids need to learn to sit quietly with nothing but their thoughts, or sit at the dinner table when eating out interacting, or standing in line with their parents, or ride in a car staring out the window. Now, just give your kid a touch device and forget about them, they wont bother you now.
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Yep, no reason to put a chip in everyone. Just get them hooked on a mobile device. Preferably at a young age.
 
8du8 said:
Theres a big difference with the latest generation of devices, they are mobile. No longer do kids need to learn to sit quietly with nothing but their thoughts, or sit at the dinner table when eating out interacting, or standing in line with their parents, or ride in a car staring out the window. Now, just give your kid a touch device and forget about them, they wont bother you now.
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gb01.jpg


1989?
 
When I was 10 my folks would kick my ass out the door and tell me not to come back until it was dark. If I was up to know good it would travel at the speed of light via the grapevine and there would be hell to pay when I got home. Sadly doing either of these things nowadays would end up with a visit from the CPS fairy.
 
Hsensei said:
When I was 10 my folks would kick my ass out the door and tell me not to come back until it was dark. If I was up to know good it would travel at the speed of light via the grapevine and there would be hell to pay when I got home. Sadly doing either of these things nowadays would end up with a visit from the CPS fairy.
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Yep, back in those days, if you had a problem with someone you would kick each others ass and shook hands afterwards. Now days you expect a call from an attorney or a shooting.
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
gb01.jpg


1989?
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The difference is the games. I haven't seen one tablet game that actually involves any thinking. They're the most mind-numbing simple games i've ever seen which have these achievements built in because the developers know they're addictive.

Some of these games i don't even understand the allure. My buddy went through 4-5 different games the other day on his tablet, playing each for about 30 minutes. They all looked the same. Touch this, that and the other thing, build more whatever, watch the numbers go up.... like wtf is fun about what you're doing!! They all kinda looked like farmville or some shit. One was Dungeon Keeper. DUNGEON KEEPER for crying out loud! On mobile, sigh. And boy did it look like a dumbed down shitty version of that game.

When I got my gameboy i was playing pokemon which is a lot more involved than the typical touch game.
 
chockomonkey said:
The difference is the games. I haven't seen one tablet game that actually involves any thinking. They're the most mind-numbing simple games i've ever seen which have these achievements built in because the developers know they're addictive.

Some of these games i don't even understand the allure. My buddy went through 4-5 different games the other day on his tablet, playing each for about 30 minutes. They all looked the same. Touch this, that and the other thing, build more whatever, watch the numbers go up.... like wtf is fun about what you're doing!! They all kinda looked like farmville or some shit. One was Dungeon Keeper. DUNGEON KEEPER for crying out loud! On mobile, sigh. And boy did it look like a dumbed down shitty version of that game.

When I got my gameboy i was playing pokemon which is a lot more involved than the typical touch game.
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Not all tablet games are created equal ... there is certainly plenty of dreck out there but ironically the old PC games ported to tablets can make for some very challenging gameplay (Baldur's Gate I and II, KoTR, etc) ... there are also plenty of learning games available that might teach kids shapes and numbers and such

As others indicated the key element is balance ... tablets can be used to supplement and replace some media and they should be set aside for others:

1. Tablets make decent eReaders with interactive books in some cases
2. Tablets could be used to supplement Legos or other block toys with recipes
3. Tablets (and PCs) can be used to play more sophisticated games (as children age)
4. Tablets could be used for read along books (that might have required computers before)
etc

Tablets are a tool not a babysitter ... used as such (and in conjunction with other tools) they can be very useful and supplement learning ;)
 
chockomonkey said:
The difference is the games. I haven't seen one tablet game that actually involves any thinking. They're the most mind-numbing simple games i've ever seen which have these achievements built in because the developers know they're addictive.

Some of these games i don't even understand the allure. My buddy went through 4-5 different games the other day on his tablet, playing each for about 30 minutes. They all looked the same. Touch this, that and the other thing, build more whatever, watch the numbers go up.... like wtf is fun about what you're doing!! They all kinda looked like farmville or some shit. One was Dungeon Keeper. DUNGEON KEEPER for crying out loud! On mobile, sigh. And boy did it look like a dumbed down shitty version of that game.

When I got my gameboy i was playing pokemon which is a lot more involved than the typical touch game.
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They are all designed to keep you hooked on them in the hopes that you will spend money.

Plain and simple, there is absolutely zero thought process that goes into them other than having the end user spend money to perpetuate the business.
 
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