Little Fingers, Big Purchases: Guarding Against "In-App" Spending

Watch out for those flashy icons and banner ads promising extra content in game apps for kids. When little eyes see them, Mom or Dad's credit card bill could go through the roof.

A slew of recent news reports have shown just how easy it is for young kids to make expensive "in-app purchases," or IAPs, while playing games on mobile devices, and just how much their parents are paying for it.

In a recent piece in The Guardian on kids using iPhones and iPads, reporter Mark King tells the story of a 6-year-old boy who spent 160 pounds (roughly 240 U.S. dollars) on "Smurf Village credits" for the Smurfs' Village game in a matter of 15 minutes.

The child was able to do this because under current rules on Apple's iTunes, after a user first enters a password to make a purchase, there's a 15-minute window to make additional purchases without being prompted to re-enter the password.

Chris Brown, the boy's father, tells The Guardian his tale of app (and Apple) woe: "I contacted Apple and discovered I wasn't the only naive parent in the world. This is a common occurrence and Apple refused to issue any kind of refund. Needless to say that I have now disabled all in-app purchases on my devices. Lesson learned."

Such stories of parents surprised by monster bills for online gaming are on the rise everywhere (see this piece from Ireland, where one grandfather was left holding a pretty big bag).

"App developers are not often altruistic," Spencer Whitman of the firm AppCertain told The Guardian's King. "They often include in-app purchases hidden behind the free price tag. Either they offer a small amount of play, then charge for continued use; offer in-app purchases for more in-game content such as extra areas of play or upgrades; or they constantly interrupt game play to ask for in-app purchases."

Indeed, the "freemium" mobile app business model — in which the app itself is free but users are charged for additional content or functions — is highly effective. It's quickly becoming the standard for developers as revenue growth for freemium apps explodes.

In-app purchases will in fact drive 41% of app store revenues by 2016, up from just 10% in 2012, according to forecasts by Gartner Analysts, King reports. A Juniper Research forecast out this week said tablet users alone will generate $3.03 billion each year via IAPs by 2016 — a tenfold increase from the $301 million generated in 2012. Smartphone users will spend $6 billion on IAPs in 2016, Juniper forecasts.

King and others offer tips on protecting against costly IAPs.These include: Put a mobile device in "airplane" mode or turn off the Internet when your little one is using it. Link your app store account to a gift card instead of a credit card to limit the amount that can be spent. Require the account password to make any purchase.

And watch out for that in-app advertising. In another Guardian piece, out last week, King reports on an ad in a new app for a popular kids series that enticed kids to sign up for a subscription service for additional content — for a mere 208 pounds a year (about 315 U.S. dollars). The ad, on the Talking Friends Cartoons app for iPhones, iPad and Android devices, was pulled shortly after the app launched this month. (For more on this controversy, see this post on Apps Playground.)

Another new app, Dino Land from National Geographic, also stirred up controversy this month over an in-app extra in which kids can buy virtual "bones" for as much as 69.99 pounds (and apparently the same amount in dollars), King reports. (See Apps Playground again for more in-depth discussion.)

In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission is looking closely at mobile apps designed for children. They put out not one but two reports last year on privacy concerns surrounding children's apps (see the earlier post on this blog "2012 Was an Interesting Year"). The warning is clear to developers: They should pay close attention to advertising rules and policies — and to a basic sense of what's right and wrong — when it comes to apps for kids. If they don't, they could be facing a major "app-lash" one day soon.

Preschoolers on "Media Diet" Show Improved Behavior: Study

It's no secret that preschoolers really like TV. And with more ways than ever now to access TV content — Elmo's just a tap away on Dad's new tablet — it's becoming more a part of preschoolers' daily lives all the time. In fact, it's estimated that preschool-aged children in the U.S. watch almost four and a half hours of TV each day at home and in daycare settings.

There are any number of studies out there about the negative effects of too much TV. (Not to mention this chilling report from New Zealand this week linking early TV watching to later criminal convictions.) But pediatrician Wendy Sue Swanson says the right kind of TV can improve children's lives. In the February 18 Huffington Post article "Preschoolers Can Learn Great Things From TV," Swanson discusses new research out this week that showed that a group of preschoolers who were put on a "media diet" — their parents paid special attention to the kinds of shows they were allowed to watch — exhibited better behavior after just six months.

The study, by Dimitri Christakis, pediatric researcher at Seattle Children's Hospital, was published online in the journal Pediatrics on February 18. It did not focus on how much TV the children watched; it was strictly about what they watched. With the encouragement and help of case managers, a group of children ages 3 to 5 in a "media diet" intervention program watched more "prosocial" content and less violent and inappropriate content than children in a control group.

"Prosocial programming," Swanson writes, "is that kind of TV show that promotes children acting in kind ways or shows children sharing. In prosocial shows, adults are portrayed as dependable and helpful."

The media diet worked: Scores for social competence and behavior improved significantly for the kids in the intervention group. They showed less aggressive and more prosocial behavior than those in the control group. At both the 6-month mark and the 12-month mark, they demonstrated more helpfulness, concern for others and empathy.

"It's a variation on the 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em' idea," writes pediatrician Claire McCarthy in the Pediatrics article "Pediatricians and Television: It's Time to Rethink Our Messaging and Our Efforts" published online February 18. "If the screens are going to be on, let's concentrate on the content, and how we make it work for children."

Swanson offers tips for creating your own media diet with children at the end of her piece. For more advice about good TV programming for young children, check out "Must-See TV for Preschoolers and Kindergarteners" on Education.com. For even more on TV and young children, see this article on preschoolers and this one on kids under age 3 on PBS Parents. For info on TV viewing and children of all ages, see this fact sheet from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP).

Cyber Sticks and Stones: A New Book on Cyberbullying

Harrassing texts. Private details about one's personal life posted on Facebook. Mean comments and cruel lies spread via Twitter. These are just some of the forms that cyberbullying is taking in today’s digital age.

Emily Bazelon, author of a new book on cyberbullying, Sticks and Stones, discussed how the Internet and social media have intensified bullying for today’s always-connected kids on NPR's Fresh Air today.

“It really can make bullying feel like it’s 24/7,” Bazelon told Fresh Air host Terry Gross. Unlike in the pre-Internet, pre-texting past, today “when you come home, if you’re a victim of bullying, you’re likely to see this kind of continue on a social media site or via texting,” she said. Indeed, a generation ago, kids were able to get a break from bullying when they left school for the day. Today they can experience it alone in their bedrooms at night.

"It's really hard for kids not to look when they think there's some mean thing being spread around about them," Bazelon said. Another difference for bullying victims today? Since the offending words are written down online, the harrassment can feel more visible, and permanent. "The bullying can take place in front of quite a large audience," she says.

Bazelon, a senior editor at Slate and also the Truman Capote fellow at Yale Law School, discussed her new book at length with Gross. (You can hear the full interview here). A main topic was how parents can navigate — and help their children navigate — the ever-changing world of digital media kids are growing up in today.

"Technology use is such a struggle for parents right now," she said. "It's so different than when we were growing up" — without social media, for example. "These sites are encouraging kids to share widely and habitually. That's good for their business models. The more brand loyalty they can build among kids and teenagers, and the more they can habituate all of us to just sharing, the more money they make. So we need to make sure to help kids think about whether they really want to be putting intimate details, intimate photographs about their lives online."

Bazelon also told the story of spending a day at Facebook — which has 20 million American teen users — to learn about a program Facebook is currently working on to help young people deal with bullying on its site.

"Facebook has a lot of influence over kids who are mean," she said. "They know from their own data that when they tell kids that they've posted something inappropriate [and] they ask them to take it down, those kids don't re-offend." The problem, though, Bazelon said, is that Facebook has been reluctant thus far to use its influence for too much good because "it doesn't want to be seen as uncool."

You can read an excerpt from Sticks and Stones on NPR’s website here. For more information on cyberbullying, visit the Cyberbullying Research Center.

"I Hereby Agree to...": Parent-Kid Tech Pacts

From Paul Baier's PracticalSustainability blog

Are parent-kid technology contracts in vogue these days? At least a couple have become media sensations in recent weeks. Earlier this month, a dad posted on his blog a contract he signed with his 14-year-old daughter to pay her $200 if she stayed off Facebook for the rest of the school year. The post, by Paul Baier of the Boston area, went viral in a matter of hours.

And everyone had something to say about it. Some folks commenting on Baier's blog — presumably total strangers — called him a wonderful, creative and caring dad. They called his contract "brilliant," "ingenious," and "awesome." Supporters recounted their own parents paying them to do chores or get good grades. But others tore Baier apart, accusing him of bad parenting, bribery and even of forcing his daughter into the agreement — despite his stating in his original blog post, "Her idea which I support fully."

In the days following his posting, Baier told the Boston Herald, and various other news outlets, that it was indeed his daughter, an honor student, who approached him with this idea. He said she found Facebook "distracting and boring and full of nothingness!" She also wanted to earn some cash. (His daughter is not alone in her Facebook hiatus, by the way: A Pew Research Center report released in early February found that 61% of Facebook users have at some point taken a break from the site for several weeks or more.)

Janell Burley Hofmann, a Cape Cod mom, drew the same kind of attention — and fire — when she publicly shared an 18-point list of rules her 13-year-old son had to abide by when she gave him an iPhone for Christmas. "Failure to comply with the following list will result in termination of your iPhone ownership," Hofmann wrote on the Huffington Post, where she shared the details of the contract. Her rules included: "2. I will always know the password." "5. It does not go to school with you. Have a conversation with the people you text in person. It's a life skill." And "8. Do not text, email, or say anything through this device you would not say in person." As of this posting, there were 1,669 comments to Hofmann's original post — many applauding her rules but others dissing them rather harshly.

Regardless of what their friends (or even strangers) may think about it, many parents make technology pacts with their children. Others who would like to but who need some help getting started can find quite a few ready-made contracts available online.

"Online safety cards" from A Platform for Good

Take, for example, these downloadable contracts about gadget usage from A Platform for Good (PFG), a project of the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI). Parents can use them when giving their child a new smartphone, tablet, computer, cell phone or gaming system. Both parent and child sign the contract. The child agrees to certain limits and restrictions. In return, the parent promises to learn more about the technology and to "not overreact" if something goes awry.

Common Sense Media has contracts too, called "Family Media Agreements," for kids as young as Kindergarten level. (They're broken down by grade level: elementary school, middle school and high school). The kids agree to be responsible and careful, and the parents agree to be understanding and open-minded about the technology their kids use.

Even the U.S Attorney General's office has its own "Internet Safety Contract" for children in Kindergarten through 5th grade. The "Family Online Safety Contract" from FOSI is another contract specifically about Internet safety.

The "Technology Contract" for kids at Yoursphere for Parents is worth looking into, too. "I’ve experienced firsthand that not only do technology contracts provide you the opportunity to candidly talk to your child about what’s safe use and what’s not, they’re also a great way to create boundaries for our children," says Mary Kay Hoal, Internet safety expert and founder of Yoursphere.com. Hoal certainly knows about kids and technology use. In her home, she writes, there are "three laptops, one desktop, one iPad, two iPod Touches, two Wii’s, one Xbox 360, four smartphones, one non-smart cell phone, one Netflix account, one landline and two TVs." Oh, and five kids — all bound by contract to follow the rules.

Geocaching: The High-Tech Treasure Hunt Kids Love

What child doesn't love a game of hide-and-seek? How about a high-tech version in which members of a global treasure-hunting community hide small treasures the child can seek out using a smartphone?

That's what geocaching is all about: It's a free, real-world game in which players use a GPS-enabled mobile device to navigate to a specific location — maybe even the local park — to find a hidden container, or "geocache," that another player placed. The geocache contains a logbook to sign and very often a real treasure, perhaps a small trinket or toy. You can take the item with you as long as you replace it with another item of the same or greater value.

There are more than 5 million players (or geocachers) worldwide, and many kids are getting in the game (with adult assistance). The high-tech scavenger hunt itself is enticing enough, but they get to trade small treasures to boot.

Sierra Filucci of Common Sense Media says she "struck gold" when she figured out a way to blend outdoor activity, exercise and the iPhone for her iPhone-obsessed son. Filucci shares tips for folks who want to give geocaching a try in the February 6 Huffington Post article "Nerding Out in Nature: One Smart Phone. Two Kids. Tons of Fun. She writes, for example, "Non-geocachers are called 'Muggles,' as in the non-wizards in Harry Potter's world. If you see Muggles during your hunt, you should act normal, and don't let them catch on to what you're doing. (Kids LOVE this part.)"

Geocaches are hidden all over the world. You can read about how the whole phenomenon started here. It's an interesting story.

Sesame Street Close to 1 Billion Views on YouTube

It's not exactly "Gangnam Style," the most clicked-on YouTube video of all time. But it's close.

The Sesame Street YouTube Channel is rapidly nearing 1 billion views ("Gangnam Style" became the first YouTube video ever to hit this mark in December). As of this posting, Sesame Street was 98% there, with over 982 million views. If — or rather, when — it does hit this huge digital milestone, it will be first U.S. children's media outlet ever to do so. (It will also be the first ever nonprofit group.)

To help get there, the channel has posted a new video of the character Telly Monster telling viewers about a "top secret video" that will only be revealed once the ticker hits 1 billion. (See below.) You can track the channel's progress yourself on the Sesame Street Channel here.

A spokesperson for YouTube EDU, YouTube's educational realm, told the Associated Press that education is one of the fastest growing content categories on YouTube. This is hardly surprising in an age where many tots get their first view of Big Bird on an iPad or iPhone. Sesame Street launched its channel on YouTube in 2006. Today, Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street, considers digital and interactive elements with every new idea for the show.

"It blows me away to think how popular and strong a platform (YouTube) has become for us," Terry Fitzpatrick, executive VP of content and distribution for Sesame Workshop, told the AP.

Fire the e-Babysitter, Use the Tablet Together Instead

"Parenting in the Age of the iPad — Super Heroes and Sidekicks," posted on the Reading Rainbow blog February 7, gives another fine list of tips for parents and caregivers about using tablets together with kids. Here Carolina Nugent describes how to "transform your mobile device from a babysitter to a sidekick" — in which you, the adult, are the child's superhero.

Nugent, director of education for the educational app store KinderTown, joins a chorus of experts in advising adults to "co-play," or use apps, games and e-books together with kids rather than just to keep little ones busy on their own. Research shows that young children learn best through adult-child interaction, and Nugent focuses on the laughing and sharing part, noting that "cuddle and snuggle time can happen with a tablet too."

She also reminds parents that apps can spark creativity in the "real world": "Many of the drawing, games, and story apps can easily be extended with a stack of paper and a box of markers," she writes. Kids could retell their favorite digital stories in homemade paper story books, or make a dictionary of words they learned using a vocabulary app. The experience of a digital app, game or book doesn't need to be limited to the digital device itself.

Staying on Top of Your Mobile Kids' Tech Use: Tips from Mashable

Use your own email account when you start your child on Facebook. Play video games together. Install filters and anti-virus protection on all of your devices. Tell your child that you own the mobile device he or she is using — you paid for it and you'll be in charge of the restrictions.

These are just some of the tips from Monica Vila in the February 8 Mashable article "Keeping One Step Ahead of Kids in a Mobile World." Vila, co-founder of The Online Mom, explains how she used to have her kids' technology usage under control, until everything went mobile.

"For parents, mobile technology has become a losing game of Whac-A-Mole, as we desperately try to keep up with all the various apps and communication platforms that are currently in vogue," Vila writes. So here she offers parents her own best advice for staying on top of kids' "anytime, anywhere" technology use. Her last word to the wise, by the way? "Turn off your smartphone at home as often as possible — be the person you want your child to become."

Check out Vila's site, The Online Mom. It's chock-full of advice, information and encouragement about embracing technology and keeping kids responsible and safe online.

"Growing Up Digital": A Barnard College Talk

When it comes to children and digital media, it's the content, not the medium, that matters. This was the clear message from Rosemarie Truglio, senior VP of education and research at Sesame Workshop and the speaker at "Growing Up Digital: Keeping the Human Connection," a talk held at Barnard College in New York City on February 7.

"It's not the technology, it's how we use it," Truglio said. "We've been blaming technology for years," she said — from writing itself ("Socrates said, 'Now everyone's going to read; what's going to happen to our memory?'"), to the printing press, to television, to computers. Naysayers have blamed all of these and more for corrupting us in one way or another.

But whether it's TV sets or iPads, these are simply tools, Truglio said. It's what we do with them that's important. "You could watch really bad television, or you could watch really good television," she reminded listeners in a packed lecture hall. The same is true of using apps, games and other digital products made for kids.

The talk was part of the Barnard Center for Toddler Development's 40th anniversary celebration. By a show of hands, most in the audience were parents of toddlers. Others included teachers, students and preschoolers' parents.

Truglio made the case that not all kids' apps are created equal by demonstrating some popular preschool apps from Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind "Sesame Street" (you might know it by its former name, the Children's Television Workshop). She walked through several features she said parents should look for in apps: A section of parent tips that extend the learning. The ability to customize the learning experience (you might want to shut off Grover's voice, say, and use your own). True assessment of your child's progress. (The majority of app "trackers" for parents only tell you the frequency with which your child does something, Truglio said, such as play with the letter "F." "They are not assessing learning," she warned.)

And watch out for apps that make it easy for kids to run up your credit card in the app store, she said. In Sesame Workshop apps, links for making purchases are in a parents section only and are protected by "baby gates" — extra confirmations that prevent kids from clicking back to app stores and buying willy-nilly. (For more on what makes a good app, see Sesame Workshop's best practices for designing touchscreen content for preschoolers, released in December.)

Another key point that Truglio drove home: Use digital tools with your child. Toddlers especially, who are learning language, need to hear adults' open-ended questions and descriptive language, she said. "When you take quality content and you put it on an interactive medium, and then you stir it around with parent-child interaction, you get better results than if your child is just by him- or herself interacting with the game."

Audience questions at the end ran the gamut: Where can I find good ratings for apps online? How do you instill good habits from the get-go and preempt addiction to Facebook, et al, later? How much time should a 4-year-old be allowed to spend on a digital device? And from one parent whose young son is obsessed with watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, "What do you think of Mickey Mouse?"

Truglio's answers? Look to Common Sense Media and KinderTown for solid app ratings; model appropriate behavior with your own devices, avoiding addiction yourself; screen time should not exceed one and a half to two hours a day (and this includes all screen time); and the child is learning something from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, which is about problem-solving. "It's not a bad show. He's going to be OK," Truglio reassured this parent. "I would like him to watch Big Bird a little bit more, but he'll be OK."

Respecting Children's Privacy Online

A couple of years ago, a study came out that said 92% of children in the U.S. under age two already had a digital "footprint" of some kind — from photos and albums of themselves posted online to email addresses to full-on social network profiles. The study, by Internet security firm AVG, found that 34% of U.S. children had an online presence even before they were born, thanks to sonograms posted by their parents — a "digital birth" before their own actual births.

What happens when these kids grow up? When they reach tweendom, say, and are old enough to see and understand this online documentation of their childhoods? Will they flinch at the anecdotes their parents shared on social media sites — not to mention all the comments their parents' friends and followers posted in response? Since they had no control over creating these early online profiles (they certainly didn't post those toddler shots of themselves with food all over their faces), how will they feel about them?

In the February 4 TODAY Moms article "Sharing 'Cute' Naked Photos of Your Kids Online: Just Don't", Carolyn Savage tells the story of when she came across naked pictures of herself as a baby — the old fashioned print kind — when she was 11. "My immediate reaction was to hide every last one of the photos," Savage writes. "As innocent as the pictures were, in my pre-pubescent mind, no one — not even my parents — had a right to possess pictures of me with no clothes on. My body was mine and at that point in my life, I wanted to keep my body private."

And these were just her mom's personal collection of family pics. Savage's piece was sparked by a recent outcry over one mom blogger posting a picture on Instagram of her naked 3-year-old in the tub. The blogger has over 20,000 followers, and while some defended her posting, many were outraged by it, citing pedophiles and child pornographers as well as her toddler's own right to privacy. (The blogger has since taken the photo down.)

For many parents, posting naked photos, even of babies, crosses a line. Many understand that once a photo is out there, it's out there, and there's no real way to know or control who ends up getting access to it or what they might use it for. A poll accompanying Savage's article on TODAY Moms asks, "Is it OK to share naked photos of your kids online?" As of this posting, 86% had clicked "No; children have a right to privacy, too," while just 14% clicked "Yes! They're cute, and it's all in good fun."

But nakedness is just one thing to consider. In the February 1 Time.com piece "Are You Guilty of 'Oversharenting'? Why We Owe Our Kids Online Privacy," Carolyn Jones notes that college admissions officers and hiring managers "regularly research their potential candidates online." This could include whatever a candidate's parents might have publicly written about him or her in the past.

Jones also discusses identity theft: "All a fraudster needs is a child’s name, birth date and address — details that can be cherry-picked off unsecured social-media profiles — and they can commit identify theft that won’t be discovered until the child is much older," she writes.

In its "Online Reputation Guide for College-Bound Students," SafetyWeb, a service from Experian, notes: "A digital footprint can last a lifetime unless an individual diligently practices online reputation management (monitoring)." But how can a teen control the online "reputation" his or her parents created years ago? What about the children whose parents regularly blog about their lives, sharing all manner of growing-up stories with the online world at large? All that commentary about what little Amy did today won't go away when Amy grows up.

"The more of our lives we put online from the beginning, the more there is to contend with later on," Steven Leckart wrote last May in The Wall Street Journal article "The Facebook-Free Baby." In this piece — in which he famously coined the term "oversharenting" — Leckart described his decision not to post anything about his infant son on Facebook, including photos. "It's not that I want my son to remain hidden from the world," he wrote. "I just want him to inherit a decision instead of a list of passwords and default settings. If he takes part in social media, he'll eventually do so on his own terms, not mine."

Savage at TODAY Moms asks a simple but important question: "When does a child's right to privacy trump a parent's desire to share?" It's a question each parent needs to answer for himself or herself. Facebook's ever-changing privacy settings may be a pain to navigate, but parents should take the time to understand them and decide what they want to share with whom. Will they share photos of their kids with private lists of close friends and family or with all 500 Facebook friends? Will they post their children's full names, first and last? If they blog about their child's life, will they use his or her real name? The YouTube videos are certainly adorable — but do parents want these to be part of their children's online profiles forever?

These are individual decisions. But they're decisions that could have important consequences, both today and down the road. Facebook has only been around since 2004. It will still be a few years before the first generation of kids who had their sonograms posted to the site are even officially old enough to use it.

Internet Safety Lessons for the Very Young: A New British Campaign

From ChildLine.org

How do you teach Internet safety to a 5-year-old? And should kids as young as 5 be taught about dangers online? The British service ChildLine, part of the British charity NSPCC, says absolutely. 

"We are facing an e-safety time bomb," a spokesperson for the charity told the BBC last week. She said an increased number of young kids are reporting various and new forms of online abuse. Some 250 callers to ChildLine last year said they were being groomed for sex online, for example, the BBC reported. And there was a 70% hike in calls to the number about online pornography, with some callers being as young as 11. 

ChildLine is now holding assemblies in every primary school in the United Kingdom to teach children about staying safe online. Young people can also read ChildLine's "Online and Mobile Safety" tips, with information on gaming, sexting and more.

Continuing the discussion, Parenting.com offered its own tips for handling online safety with children as young as 5 in the February 7 article "How Young Is Too Young for Internet Safety?". "Just like we teach [our kids] to look both ways when crossing the street, we need to give them the tools they need to be safe online," the article advises.

"A Magazine Is an iPad That Does Not Work": YouTube Video

In case you haven't seen this one yet (it's had over 4 million views), here's a one-year-old trying to "swipe" her way through some magazines. It's an "oldie" by now, but still a goodie.

Playing Digital Learning Games at Home Improves Early Math Skills: A WestEd Study

Can a digital Cat in the Hat help boost preschoolers' math skills? A new study from WestEd found that using a collection of online games and related at-home activities from PBS KIDS — including some based on "The Cat in the Hat" — increased preschoolers' math knowledge and skills, making them better prepared for kindergarten. The San Francisco-based nonprofit agency reported that a group of low-income preschoolers who used the PBS KIDS materials (called "transmedia suites") outscored a comparison group on the Test of Early Mathematics Ability (TEMA), a widely used standardized assessment.

But the study was as much about parents as it was about kids. In fact, it was all about parent-child interaction. The children's parents participated in weekly meetings to learn about the PBS KIDS games and related hands-on learning activities over an eight-week period last summer. They were encouraged to spend 30 minutes a day, four days a week, using the games and activities with their kids. In general, they played more than five games a week with their children, the study says.

One of the study's key aims was to see if parents' awareness and support of their children's mathematics learning at home would increase after the eight weeks. And guess what? It did. Parents reported that they felt more empowered to teach their children after the experience, and they became more aware of their kids' mathematical abilities. Parents working closely with their kids using educational games: a simple win-win. And more evidence supporting many-an-experts' view that kids learn best from digital media when their parents use it with them.

The content and games in this study were developed through the Ready to Learn Initiative, an early learning project of PBS Kids and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The DOE posted this article on the study on February 4. Find the study's executive summary here and the full report here.

Swiped Out?: Parenting Magazine Cover Story

The topic of young children and touchscreens made the cover of Parenting magazine's February issue. The article "Swipeout!" covers a range of topics, from how one kindergarten class uses iPhones and other technology to the use of iPads with children on the autism spectrum. Parenting senior editor Brian Braiker discusses the new Hacking Autism initiative by Autism Speaks, which invites programmers and developers to create technology-based ideas to help autistic children develop various skills.

The piece discusses the flip-side too. Children's increased screen time has led to decreased reading time, Braiker reports. And while some 7-year-olds may be designing computer programs today, they may be lagging behind in other areas. Braiker highlights a 2011 survey by Internet security company AVG that found that more children ages 2 to 5 knew how to play a basic computer game (58%) than ride a bike (52%). That same AVG study, by the way, showed that 69% of kids 2 to 5 could use a computer mouse but only 11% could tie their own shoelaces. And opening a web browser versus swimming without aid? Twenty-five percent of small children could do the former but only 20% the latter.

You Can't Swipe a Window

Toddlers today, from the January 28 issue of The New Yorker.

Tablet Technology and Young Children: South China Morning Post

Can iPads help children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)? The South China Morning Post tackles this subject and others in its January 20 article "Children Using Touch-Screen Technology." In this in-depth assessment of tablets' potential risks and benefits, reporter Tan Ly-ann points to a study showing how one child with ADHD made one year's progress in reading ability after just six weeks of tutoring sessions using the iPad. See the original study in the May/June 2012 issue of TechTrends. 

Child e-Book Reading on the Rise: A Scholastic Study

The number of kids who've read an e-book nearly doubled between 2010 and 2012, Scholastic's new "Kids & Family Reading Report" finds. Among over 1,000 kids ages 6-17 surveyed, 46% said they've read an e-book, up from 25% in 2010. Their parents' e-reading habits have increased as well: 41% said they've read an e-book, up from just 14% in 2010.

From Scholastic's "Kids & Family Reading Report"

Interestingly, when asked what books they like to read for fun, a full 80% of the kids said they read mostly print books (vs. e-books). "I like the feel of the book in my hand," a 13-year-old girl in Georgia told Scholastic. "Books in print you keep forever," said a 15-year-old Ohio girl.

Still, almost half of the parents surveyed (49%) said their child does not spend enough time reading for fun — a jump from 36% just two years ago. By contrast, 33% said their child spends "too much time" or "way too much time" playing video or computer games on any kind of electronic device; and 32% said the same about the time their child spends visiting social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. See Scholastic's full report here.

And Introducing... the iPotty!

No, this is not make-believe. CTA Digital introduced the new iPotty — to keep toilet-training tots occupied in the loo — at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January.

This new contraption, with its built-in case for an iPad, will go on sale in March for $39.99 (iPad definitely not included). It doesn't come with any apps of its own — the idea is parents can download already existing potty-training apps (there are many) to help motivate their little ones as they sit. It does come with a clear protective cover for the touchscreen (which is probably not a bad idea).

Will iPotty-using toddlers become addicted to iPad stimulation and need it to go to the bathroom? Jacoba Urist explores this question and other potential pluses and minuses of the new gizmo in "iPotty: Brilliant, or Worst Idea Ever?" at TODAY Moms (January 16). She quotes one pediatrician saying that with toddlers, the hardest part of opening an iPad or similar device is "turning it off." And a mom who's concerned that "the last sacred place — the toilet — has finally succumbed to the noise of the information age."

Polaroid's New Kids Tablet

It's called simply that: the Kids Tablet. This 7-inch Android-powered tablet is the latest to enter the tablets-for-kids space. It's due out this spring, with a $149.99 price tag. Polaroid unveiled the new device at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on January 8. See a video demonstration by Phandroid here.

2012 Was an Interesting Year

It's February 2013, and this marks the launch of "The Digital Child," a hub of news, resources and information on children and digital media. Before 2012 gets too far behind us, here's a round-up of some of the big news, studies and other developments of the year.

Kids' Tablets Explosion

If it seemed like there was a new made-for-kids tablet out each time you turned around, it's probably because there was. It was the year of the kid tablet — from the Toys "R" Us Tabeo, with its Hello Kitty and Angry Birds accessory cases, to the Fuhu Nabi Jr. (shown) for the preschool and kindergarten set, equipped with a "baby monitor" video camera for parents. Kid tablets tend to be plastic, easy-to-grip for tiny hands and rubber-edged for extra durability. They come with an array of parental controls but a price tag not that much less than some adult versions (many are in the $150-$200 range). 

Children's Technology Review offered this in-depth report on the market in December, analyzing and reviewing tons — and tons — of kid tablets. ConsumerReports.org also lab-tested and kid-tested five popular 7-inch Android kid tablets in December. And see these reviews from Forbes. Expect much more news and reviews this year as the tablets-for-tots market explodes.

Study: Apple's App Store Heavily Targets Young Children

Speaking of exploding... over 80% of the top-selling paid educational apps in Apple's iTunes App Store now target children, a January study by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop found. Of these apps, a whopping 72% target preschoolers. And it's a fast-growing market. An addendum to this study, from the summer, zoomed in on Apple's App Store's games category (which has an entire section devoted to kids, unlike its education category). It found that a full 56% of games apps target the toddler/preschooler set — by far the most popular age group. And almost a third of games apps (32%) make "some sort of educational claim," stating a learning objective. All of the apps making such claims target preschoolers and toddlers. 

FTC Warning: Privacy Woes Over Kids' Apps

With so much "app-tivity" geared toward the very young, can we soon expect an "app-lash"? In light of some looming privacy concerns, it's very possible. In December, the Federal Trade Commission outlined many troubling concerns over privacy and children's apps in its report "Mobile Apps for Kids: Disclosures Still Not Making the Grade." It was the FTC's second recent survey of the privacy disclosures and practices of children's apps (their first report was released in February 2012). Both surveys showed that app developers and stores are not providing parents information about the data being collected on their kids, who they're sharing it with and how it is being used. Parents, take note. Find the full FTC report here.

New Ratings: Got Learning Potential?

In April, Common Sense Media beta-launched a new rating system for kids' digital media to help parents and teachers find the more worthy products. The nonprofit organization rates websites, apps and video games as "Best for Learning," "Good for Learning," "Fair for Learning," or "Not for Learning." It is easy to search products by media type, title, age and the ratings themselves.

Panel: "Baby Brains and Video Games"

An expert panel held by New America NYC shed some light on a range of issues surrounding little ones and digital media last March. They discussed the latest research and outlined common concerns adults have about young minds and digital devices. One strong message was that content does matter. As panelist Rosemarie Truglio, senior VP of education and research for Sesame Workshop, put it, "Just because something is interactive does not necessarily make it educational." A lively Q&A followed the panel discussion. 

Some 2012 Articles Worth Reading:

"Educational Apps Alone Won't Teach Your Kid To Read", Slate, December 13, 2012
Adult-child interaction is still the most important factor in teaching literacy, write Lisa Guernsey and Michael Levine. They are two authors of the new report "Pioneering Literacy in the Digital Wild West", which analyzed apps and e-books that promise to help kids learn to read. The report found that the most popular ones tend to focus only on very basic literacy skills without addressing higher-level skills such as vocabulary development and comprehension. "At its best, the technology complements the work of trained teachers and parents," they write. "It doesn’t replace it." Guernsey is the director of the Education Initiative at the New America Foundation (and was a panelist on the above-mentioned "Baby Brains" panel). Levine is executive director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop.

"Is Technology Sapping Children's Creativity?", The Washington Post, September 13, 2012
Early childhood development expert Nancy Carlsson-Paige reminds adults exactly how young children learn: "through direct play and hands-on experiences with people, with materials, and in nature," she writes. She discusses the importance of playing in the three-dimensional world and using good ol' fashioned open-ended materials like blocks, play-dough, sand and water. She also asks if when we quiet our kids with little screens, "are they missing out on the chance to feel, to argue, to sit in silence, to listen, to be?" (P.S.: Carlsson-Paige is also the mother of actor Matt Damon — and a former neighbor of the author of this blog, from the blogger's own early childhood.)

"Sunday Dialogue: How Children Play", The New York Times, June 30, 2012

Another interesting discussion about children's learning, this one from The New York Times' "Letters" section. In a letter responding to an earlier article, "Wasting Time Is New Divide in Digital Era", about how children and families in different socioeconomic strata use technology, Sarah Chumsky, a children’s media researcher, outlines the benefits of digital media for children. Readers respond, rather passionately. One challenge from a Waldorf School teacher, for example: "Watch your children while they are engaged with media of any kind. Look at their faces and their limbs. Then watch them while you are reading their favorite book or playing a game, or while they are on a swing. Then decide for yourself what is most benefiting your child’s deepest developmental needs."

"What Happens When Toddlers Zone Out With an iPad?", The Wall Street Journal, May 22, 2012
"In many ways, the average toddler using an iPad is a guinea pig," writes Ben Worthen — since scientific studies on the effects of such devices on toddlers' development can take three to five years, and iPads are not even yet three years old. Worthen discusses what pediatric neuroscientists and researchers have to say on the subject. He also documents what happened when his own toddler son started using an iPad (which he doesn't let him use anymore).

"Can Your Preschooler Learn Anything From an iPad App?", Slate, May 2, 2012
Another piece by Lisa Guernsey, veteran reporter and director of the Education Initiative at the New America Foundation — this one adapted from her March 2012 book, Screen Time: How Electronic Media — From Baby Videos to Educational Software — Affects Your Young Child. She discusses, among other things, the importance of apps and games that allow kids "open-ended" exploration and discovery, and the woeful lack of such products on the market today.