No sedentary screen time for babies, WHO says

Babies and toddlers should not be left to passively watch TV or other screens, according to new World Health Organization guidelines.

Sedentary screen time, including computer games, should not happen before a child is two, the WHO says.

The limit for two- to four-year-olds is an hour a day and less is better.

The UK has no plans to update its own advice on screen use, which sets no time limits, although it says children should avoid screens before bedtime.

The UK's Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health insists there is little evidence screen use for children is harmful in itself.

The new WHO advice focuses on passive viewing - youngsters being placed in front of a TV or computer screen or handed a tablet or mobile phone for entertainment - and is aimed at tackling child inactivity, a leading risk factor for global mortality and obesity-related ill health.

It is the first time the WHO has made recommendations on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children under five.

As well as warning against passive screen time, it says babies should not spend longer than an hour at a time strapped into a buggy, car seat or sling.

The guidelines will be presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Glasgow on Sunday.

The advice
For babies:

• Be physically active several times a day, including at least 30 minutes' "tummy time" - lying on their front
• No sedentary screen time
• 14-17 hours' sleep a day, including naps, for newborns - reducing to 12-16 by four to 11 months
• Should not be restrained (ie strapped into a recliner, seat or sling) for more than an hour at a time

For one- and two-year-olds:

• At least three hours' physical activity a day
• No sedentary screen time for one-year-olds and less than an hour for two-year-olds
• 11-14 hours' sleep a day, including naps
• Should not be restrained for more than an hour at a time or sit for extended periods of time

For three- and four-year-olds:

• At least three hours' physical activity a day, including at least one of moderate or vigorous intensity
• Up to an hour of sedentary screen time - less is better
• 10-13 hours' sleep a day, which may include a nap
• Should not be restrained for more than an hour at a time or sit for extended periods of time

The WHO advice is based on available evidence, but there is still a lack of definitive research into the harms and possible benefits of screen use.

However, it was unlikely very young children gained from passive, sedentary viewing, said one of the guideline authors, Dr Juana Willumsen.

"Sedentary time should be made into quality time. Reading a book with your child, for example, can help them develop their language skills.

"A child who is given a tablet to keep them quiet while they are sitting in a pushchair is not getting the same [quality sedentary time].

"Children need to be given opportunities throughout the day to actively play and we should be reducing sedentary, passive screen time," she said.

Some TV programmes that encouraged young children to move about while viewing might be OK, she added, particularly if the parent or caregiver was also present to explain and join in.

What do other experts think?
In the US, experts say children should not use screens before they are 18 months old.

In Canada, screen time for children younger than two is not recommended.

But UK guidelines set no such limit.

Dr Max Davie, from the RCPCH, said: "The restricted screen time limits suggested by the WHO do not seem proportionate to the potential harm.

"Our research has shown that currently there is not strong enough evidence to support the setting of screen time limits.

"It is difficult to see how a household with mixed-age children can shield a baby from any screen exposure at all, as is recommended.

"Overall, these WHO guidelines serve as useful benchmarks to help steer families towards active and healthy lifestyles - but without the right support in place, striving for the perfect could become the enemy of the good."

Dr Tim Smith, a brain development expert at the University of London, said parents were being bombarded with conflicting advice, which could be confusing.

"There is currently no clear evidence for the specific duration limits proposed at this age range.

"While the report makes a potentially helpful step in distinguishing sedentary screen time from active screen-based games, where physical activity is required, this remains an oversimplification of the many ways young children and their families engage with screen media."

What can parents do?
Paula Morton, a teacher and mother of two young children, said her son learned a lot from watching programmes about dinosaurs and came out with "random facts about them".

"He doesn't just sit there and zone out," she said.

"He's obviously thinking and using his brain.

"I don't know how I would make the dinner, cook and clean if he didn't have something to watch."

According to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, parents can ask themselves:

• Is screen time controlled?
• Does screen use interfere with what your family want to do?
• Does screen use interfere with sleep?
• Are you able to control snacking during screen time?

If a family are satisfied with their answers to these questions, then they are likely to be handling screen time well, the college says.

(Source: BBC)

Smartphones, tablets causing mental health issues in kids as young as two

We’ve reached a strange point in history in which an entire generation of people has never lived without incredibly modern technology like the internet, smartphones, and social media. You’re as likely to see a toddler with a tablet as a toddler with a stuffed teddy. Perhaps you’re a parent of young children yourself, and someway or another technology has made its way into the everyday experience of your kids. But should parents and caregivers be concerned about the amount of screen time their children are getting?

Let’s join in the conversation among academics studying this very question. Jean M. Twenge of San Diego State University and Keith Campbell of the University of Georgia recently published research in the Preventive Medicine Reports on the effects of screen time on the wellbeing of American children aged 2 to 17.

They found that screen time beyond one hour a day was associated with “less curiosity, lower self-control, more distractibility, more difficulty making friends, less emotional stability, being more difficult to care for, and inability to finish tasks.” (1) What’s more, a large sample of American children from 2016 data showed that those with high amounts of screen time each day had twice as many diagnoses for anxiety and depression than children with low screen time. Other insights from the study include: (1)

• Both high use of screen time (7 hours or more) and moderate use (4 hours) were linked to overall lower psychological wellbeing compared to low use (1 hour)
• Preschoolers exposed to high amounts of screen time are twice as likely as low users to fall into temper tantrums and 46% more likely to become uncontrollably hyper when excited.
• The longer teens spent on their screens on average, the less likely they were to complete tasks assigned to them.
• Moderate and high screen time use was linked to lower levels of curiosity and interest in learning new things in children aged 11-13.

Interestingly, the link between high screen time and poor mental and emotional wellbeing seemed to be stronger among adolescents than young children. Professor Twenge said: “At first, I was surprised the associations were larger for adolescents. However, teens spend more time on their phones and on social media, and we know from other research that these activities are more strongly linked to low wellbeing than watching television and videos, which is most of younger children’s screen time.”  (1)

Luckily, Twenge and Campbell’s findings suggest that children who have controlled screen time and children with no screen time at all have more or less the same level of wellbeing. This means that it’s not necessary to cut all TV, video games, and computer time to ensure healthy development for your children. (1)

According to the University of Michigan Health System, about 25% of parents with kids from 2-5 years old report that their child averages more than 3 hours of screen time every day. 47% of parents fail to meet expert guides for age-appropriate screen time limits, and a full 13% of parents say they don’t limit their children’s screen time at all! (2) Experts discourage any screen time for toddlers and to limit children and adolescents to a maximum of two hours total screen time a day (including television, games, and social media).  (2)

Researchers from the University of Guelph report that most parents use screen time to control behavior, especially on weekends, where kids spend an average of 20 additional minutes on screens compared to weekdays. Their study revealed that many parents are using screen time as a reward for good behavior, and the removing screen time privileges as a consequence for misbehaving. The result, researchers write, is that children are naturally more interested in the activity. (3) Watch: Some experts, on the other hand, claim that regular use of technology like tablets and smartphones might actually have a few cognitive benefits.

(Source: Hearty Soul)

A 3-year-old boy repeatedly entered the wrong password, locked up his dad's iPad until 2067

Let's just call this reason No. 580 not to leave your kids alone with technology: They might lock you out of it.

That's what happened over the weekend to Evan Osnos, a staff writer at The New Yorker and a fellow at the Brookings Institution.

He put out a tweet -- or a cry for help -- letting the world know of the little situation his toddler put him in.

"Uh, this looks fake but, alas, it's our iPad today after 3-year-old tried (repeatedly) to unlock. Ideas?" Osnos tweeted. A photo of the iPad's screen noted the device was disabled. It also had this mind-blowing message: "Try again in 25,536,442 minutes."

Uh, this looks fake but, alas, it’s our iPad today after 3-year-old tried (repeatedly) to unlock. Ideas? pic.twitter.com/5i7ZBxx9rW

— Evan Osnos (@eosnos) 6 April 2019

That's more than 48 years, for those of you who don't want to do the math. So Osnos' iPad will be available to him again sometime in 2067. Great, he'll have something to keep him occupied in the retirement home.

The iPad lockout is a security feature of Apple devices that kicks in whenever someone repeatedly types the wrong password. The more times an incorrect password is entered, the longer the lock-out time grows.

Thankfully Osnos' Twitter followers gave all kinds of help in the comments, because there's nothing but good things in the comments, right?

People offered hundreds of suggestions. Some were practical: "Just connect it to the computer you originally synced it to iTunes on, let it sync and it'll be fine."

Others were nonsensical: "Put it in a bag of rice."

One commenter had a novel idea: "Time travel seems to be your best bet."

Yeah, probably.

Another person suggested Osnos should "reboot" the 3-year-old, but that seems a tad bit unnecessary.

Ready for a restore
Several others said no worries --- just wait out the 48 years. Because you know folks on social media are known for their patience.

So what does Apple suggest? Apple says you would need to perform a restore to use the device again (but you would lose the data on the device if you've never backed it up).

Osnos told the New York Daily News on Monday he was still locked out of the device.

"It's down a few hundred minutes from yesterday, but it looks like we've still got 25 million minutes to go," he told the newspaper. "The consensus seems to be that we're using an old operating system that won't let us restart fresh from iTunes."

CNN reached out to Osnos for comment and is waiting to hear back.

Later on Monday Osnos tweeted that he'd managed to get the iPad into DFU (Device Firmware Update) mode and is in the process of restoring the tablet.

Update on toddler-iPad-lock-out: Got it into DFU mode (don’t hold down the sleep/power button too long or you end up in recovery). Now restoring. Thanks to those who shared advice!

— Evan Osnos (@eosnos) 9 April 2019

"Thanks to those who shared advice!" he said.

Assuming Osnos gets back into the iPad, maybe he should just give his kid the password.

(Source: CNN) 

Japanese preschools having their kids put down crayons and pick up iPads

It’s drawing time at this suburban nursery school in Saitama Prefecture, but instead of crayons, tiny fingers are tapping on colors on iPad screens and taking selfies. Digital schooling has arrived in a nation long known for its zealous commitment to the “three R’s of education,” or reading, writing and arithmetic.

Coby Preschool in the town of Yoshikawa is among nearly 400 kindergartens and nursery schools in Japan that are using smartphone software applications designed especially for preschoolers called KitS.

That’s only about 1 percent of the nation’s kindergartens and nursery schools. But it’s a start. Coby is helping lead a national initiative in “digital play.”

Parents across the globe worry their children might fall behind, and Japan is no exception.

The government has recently made strengthening technology education national policy even as it struggles to meet its goal of supplying one digital device — a computer or tablet — for every three children.

Children work on a digital program at Coby Preschool in Yoshikawa, Saitama Prefecture, on July 12. | AP

Digital play
With KitS, developed by Tokyo-based startup SmartEducation, children color birds and flowers that appear to come alive as 3D computer graphics. Children also draw various creatures that, when captured as computer images, swim or float around in virtual landscapes.

In a recent session, children got a triangle image on their iPads and were asked to draw on it with digital colors, store that image, and draw another one to create a two-screen story.

The usually shy children burst into an uproar, brainstorming happily about what the triangle might represent: a sandwich, a rice ball, a dolphin, a roof, a mountain.

The children were then encouraged to come to the front of the class and explain what they had drawn as the images were shown on a large screen.

“There is no right or wrong answer,” said Akihito Minabe, the preschool principal leading the session.

The point is to nurture creativity, focus and leadership skills.

“They think on their own, they learn it’s OK to think freely, and it’s fun to come up with ideas,” Minabe said.

In the U.S., 98 percent of children age 8 and under have a mobile device in their homes, while 43 percent have their own tablet, according to The Genius of Play, an American program that researches education and play.

That’s similar to Japan, where each adult has an average of more than one smartphone and about half of preschoolers have access to a mobile device, according to central government data.

In many U.S., Asian and European preschools and elementary schools, teachers use technology to present stories, music and other information. Educators are also studying children’s social development through how they learn to share digital devices.

Getting smarter?
Much of what’s driving the adoption of tablets in U.S. preschools is a belief, founded or not, that an early start will make kids smarter at technology, said Patricia Cantor, a professor of early childhood education at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire.

However, early research into how tablets and apps affect learning for kids ages 2 to 5 is inconclusive.

“Touchscreen stuff is pretty intuitive. They don’t need training,” Cantor said.

Some studies show positive outcomes among young children using mobile devices to improve their literacy, science or math skills, but there’s little research comparing tablet-assisted learning to more conventional teaching approaches, according to a review of 19 studies by Christothea Herodotou, a lecturer at The Open University in the United Kingdom.

Herodotou said it’s unclear which features might help or hinder learning. Devices and apps can also be misused — for instance, to keep children occupied so teachers can do other things.

“Even if it’s designed to encourage learning or exploration or curiosity, it may not be used in that way,” said Cantor. “There’s so much junk out there.”

Still, the target age for “digital play” is getting ever younger.

Experts have known for years that playing is how children learn, said Ken Seiter, executive vice president at The Toy Association, a nonprofit that represents businesses that design, produce, license and deliver youth-entertainment products.

Toys can teach toddlers simple programming or use augmented reality to bring story characters digitally alive, said Seiter, whose organization spearheads The Genius of Play, a U.S.-based program that researches education and play.

Japan’s take
Japan’s classrooms tend to be more structured than in the West, with students often acting in unison as they line up, bow and chant together. Children tend to be passive, and the emphasis is on the group rather than the individual. Youngsters, even some preschoolers, attend extracurricular cram schools.

KitS’ designers have sought to make activities fun. One aim appears to be nurturing outspokenness.

Yuhei Yamauchi, a professor of information studies at the University of Tokyo and a KitS adviser, sees practical benefits.

By the time today’s 5-year-olds start work, a large majority of jobs will require computer skills. Given Japan’s shrinking population, people may work into their 80s, shifting jobs several times. Digital skills are more critical than ever, he said.

Digital tools deliver the equivalents of libraries and museums at a child’s fingertips, said Ron Shumsky, a child psychologist who works in Japan. That can be addictive, he cautions, and students must be taught safe and responsible “Digital citizenship,” he said.

It’s so compelling it pulls you in,” he said. “It keeps you wanting more.”

Experts warn that staring for too long at screens can damage eyesight and deter creative thinking. It’s a complex problem, since children may see their parents immersed in devices themselves.

KitS limits each session on the iPad to 15 minutes. Classes are held just 30 times a year.

Family dialogue
At the preschool in Yoshikawa, a sleepy Tokyo bedroom community ringed by lush rice paddies, the children have mastered time-lapse photography using their iPads.

Preschools like Coby are subsidized by local governments. Fees, including meals, are on a sliding scale based on income with the poorest families paying nothing.

Each preschool pays SmartEducation an initial ¥500,000, not including the cost of the iPads, and ¥30,000 ($265) more a month for maintenance. The cost for training teachers is included.

Students use the iPad message function to send their parents photos of themselves in action and share trailers of their upcoming performances.

The kids are keen to talk about it, and parents say the endeavor encourages communication beyond the usual daily stream of commands: Eat dinner, take a bath, go to bed.

“I realized I tend not to wait for what the children have to say,” said hospital worker Masami Uno, whose son, 5-year-old Ayumu, and 2-year-old daughter attend Coby. “It made me stop and think about that.”

The kids that were interviewed favored the usual sorts of career goals, saying they wanted to be ballerinas and soccer players. None said they wanted to be a computer programmer when they grow up.

But they like the KitS.

“It’s fun,” said Yume Miyasaka, 6.

She noted with a little pride that her father uses an iPad for work. But, referring to her iPad creation, she said, “He usually doesn’t draw shaved ice.”

(Source: JT)

All iPhones, iPads and Macs affected by chip flaws: Apple

Apple users haven't been spared in the great computer chip debacle.

The U.S. tech giant has confirmed that all its iPhones, iPads and Mac computers are affected by two recently disclosed processor flaws called Spectre and Meltdown.

So what should Apple (AAPL) users do?

For starters, make sure your iPhone, iPads, computers and all apps you use are kept up to date to help protect against hackers exploiting the flaws.

In an announcement Thursday, Apple (AAPL) said it has released patches to defend against Meltdown in iOS 11.2, macOS 10.13.2, and tvOS 11.2. Apple will release patches in its Safari browser to help defend against Spectre "in the coming days," the company added.

But it's still working on other fixes that users should look out for.

"We continue to develop and test further mitigations for these issues and will release them in upcoming updates of iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS," Apple said.

Pointing out that the risks are likely to come from "a malicious app," Apple also advised users to download software "only from trusted sources such as the App Store."

Like other big tech companies that are scrambling to deal with the problem, Apple sought also to reassure users.

"There are no known exploits impacting customers at this time," it said.

The Apple Watch isn't impacted by the Meltdown flaw.

Researchers first announced the two flaws affecting virtually all computer processors on Wednesday.

Here's the issue: Modern processors are designed to perform something called "speculative execution" to enhance performance. Data is supposed to be protected and isolated, but researchers discovered that in some cases, the information can be exposed while the processor queues it up.

Researchers said almost every computing system -- desktops, laptops, smartphones, and cloud servers -- is affected by the Spectre bug. Meltdown appears to be specific to chips made by Intel.

Other major companies rolling out fixes include Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN) and Google (GOOGL).

Fixing the problems will slow a computer's performance, experts say, especially on devices more than five years old.

Intel (INTC) said that "for the average user," the performance impact on products using the processors from the last five years "should not be significant and will be mitigated over time."

The bigger challenge appears to be for companies that deal with a lot of network traffic and considerable processing power -- things like cloud computing providers, retailers that process consumer transactions and medical systems that crunch data.

Some experts say that to completely get rid of the risks created by the flaws, the affected processors need to be replaced entirely. But that's not realistically going to happen anytime soon.

There aren't any processors available at the moment that can replace the vulnerable ones and still provide the same kind of functionality.

Experts say that it will take years to bring to market new chips that can perform the same tasks both safely and effectively.

(Source: CNN)

It’s ‘digital heroin’: How screens turn kids into psychotic junkies

Susan* bought her 6-year-old son John an iPad when he was in first grade. “I thought, ‘Why not let him get a jump on things?’ ” she told me during a therapy session. John’s school had begun using the devices with younger and younger grades — and his technology teacher had raved about their educational benefits — so Susan wanted to do what was best for her sandy-haired boy who loved reading and playing baseball.

She started letting John play different educational games on his iPad. Eventually, he discovered Minecraft, which the technology teacher assured her was “just like electronic Lego.” Remembering how much fun she had as a child building and playing with the interlocking plastic blocks, Susan let her son Minecraft his afternoons away.

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AFP/Getty Images
At first, Susan was quite pleased. John seemed engaged in creative play as he explored the cube-world of the game. She did notice that the game wasn’t quite like the Legos that she remembered — after all, she didn’t have to kill animals and find rare minerals to survive and get to the next level with her beloved old game. But John did seem to really like playing and the school even had a Minecraft club, so how bad could it be?

Still, Susan couldn’t deny she was seeing changes in John. He started getting more and more focused on his game and losing interest in baseball and reading while refusing to do his chores. Some mornings he would wake up and tell her that he could see the cube shapes in his dreams.

Although that concerned her, she thought her son might just be exhibiting an active imagination. As his behavior continued to deteriorate, she tried to take the game away but John threw temper tantrums. His outbursts were so severe that she gave in, still rationalizing to herself over and over again that “it’s educational.”

Then, one night, she realized that something was seriously wrong.

“I walked into his room to check on him. He was supposed to be sleeping — and I was just so frightened…”

We now know that those iPads, smartphones and Xboxes are a form of digital drug.
She found him sitting up in his bed staring wide-eyed, his bloodshot eyes looking into the distance as his glowing iPad lay next to him. He seemed to be in a trance. Beside herself with panic, Susan had to shake the boy repeatedly to snap him out of it. Distraught, she could not understand how her once-healthy and happy little boy had become so addicted to the game that he wound up in a catatonic stupor.

There’s a reason that the most tech-cautious parents are tech designers and engineers. Steve Jobs was a notoriously low-tech parent. Silicon Valley tech executives and engineers enroll their kids in no-tech Waldorf Schools. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page went to no-tech Montessori Schools, as did Amazon creator Jeff Bezos and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.

Many parents intuitively understand that ubiquitous glowing screens are having a negative effect on kids. We see the aggressive temper tantrums when the devices are taken away and the wandering attention spans when children are not perpetually stimulated by their hyper-arousing devices. Worse, we see children who become bored, apathetic, uninteresting and uninterested when not plugged in.

But it’s even worse than we think.

We now know that those iPads, smartphones and Xboxes are a form of digital drug. Recent brain imaging research is showing that they affect the brain’s frontal cortex — which controls executive functioning, including impulse control — in exactly the same way that cocaine does. Technology is so hyper-arousing that it raises dopamine levels — the feel-good neurotransmitter most involved in the addiction dynamic — as much as sex.

This addictive effect is why Dr. Peter Whybrow, director of neuroscience at UCLA, calls screens “electronic cocaine” and Chinese researchers call them “digital heroin.” In fact, Dr. Andrew Doan, the head of addiction research for the Pentagon and the US Navy — who has been researching video game addiction — calls video games and screen technologies “digital pharmakeia” (Greek for drug).

That’s right — your kid’s brain on Minecraft looks like a brain on drugs. No wonder we have a hard time peeling kids from their screens and find our little ones agitated when their screen time is interrupted. In addition, hundreds of clinical studies show that screens increase depression, anxiety and aggression and can even lead to psychotic-like features where the video gamer loses touch with reality.

In my clinical work with over 1,000 teens over the past 15 years, I have found the old axiom of “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” to be especially true when it comes to tech addiction. Once a kid has crossed the line into true tech addiction, treatment can be very difficult. Indeed, I have found it easier to treat heroin and crystal meth addicts than lost-in-the-matrix video gamers or Facebook-dependent social media addicts.

That’s right — your kid’s brain on Minecraft looks like a brain on drugs.
According to a 2013 Policy Statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics, 8- to 10 year-olds spend 8 hours a day with various digital media while teenagers spend 11 hours in front of screens. One in three kids are using tablets or smartphones before they can talk. Meanwhile, the handbook of “Internet Addiction” by Dr. Kimberly Young states that 18 percent of college-age internet users in the US suffer from tech addiction.

Once a person crosses over the line into full-blown addiction — drug, digital or otherwise — they need to detox before any other kind of therapy can have any chance of being effective. With tech, that means a full digital detox — no computers, no smartphones, no tablets. The extreme digital detox even eliminates television. The prescribed amount of time is four to six weeks; that’s the amount of time that is usually required for a hyper-aroused nervous system to reset itself. But that’s no easy task in our current tech-filled society where screens are ubiquitous. A person can live without drugs or alcohol; with tech addiction, digital temptations are everywhere.

So how do we keep our children from crossing this line? It’s not easy.

The key is to prevent your 4-, 5- or 8-year-old from getting hooked on screens to begin with. That means Lego instead of Minecraft; books instead of iPads; nature and sports instead of TV. If you have to, demand that your child’s school not give them a tablet or Chromebook until they are at least 10 years old (others recommend 12).

Have honest discussions with your child about why you are limiting their screen access. Eat dinner with your children without any electronic devices at the table — just as Steve Jobs used to have tech-free dinners with his kids. Don’t fall victim to “Distracted Parent Syndrome” — as we know from Social Learning Theory, “Monkey see, monkey do.”

When I speak to my 9-year-old twin boys, I have honest conversations with them about why we don’t want them having tablets or playing video games. I explain to them that some kids like playing with their devices so much, they have a hard time stopping or controlling how much they play. I’ve helped them to understand that if they get caught up with screens and Minecraft like some of their friends have, other parts of their lives may suffer: They may not want to play baseball as much; not read books as often; be less interested in science and nature projects; become more disconnected from their real-world friends. Amazingly, they don’t need much convincing as they’ve seen first-hand the changes that some of their little friends have undergone as a result of their excessive screen time.

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Developmental psychologists understand that children’s healthy development involves social interaction, creative imaginative play and an engagement with the real, natural world. Unfortunately, the immersive and addictive world of screens dampens and stunts those developmental processes.

We also know that kids are more prone to addictive escape if they feel alone, alienated, purposeless and bored. Thus the solution is often to help kids to connect to meaningful real-life experiences and flesh-and-blood relationships. The engaged child tethered to creative activities and connected to his or her family is less likely to escape into the digital fantasy world. Yet even if a child has the best and most loving support, he or she could fall into the Matrix once they engage with hypnotic screens and experience their addicting effect. After all, about one in 10 people are predisposed towards addictive tendencies.

In the end, my client Susan removed John’s tablet, but recovery was an uphill battle with many bumps and setbacks along the way.

Four years later, after much support and reinforcement, John is doing much better today. He has learned to use a desktop computer in a healthier way, and has gotten some sense of balance back in his life: He’s playing on a baseball team and has several close friends in his middle school. But his mother is still vigilant and remains a positive and proactive force with his tech usage because, as with any addiction, relapse can sneak up in moments of weakness. Making sure that he has healthy outlets, no computer in his bedroom and a nightly tech-free dinner at the dinner table are all part of the solution.

*Patients’ names have been changed.

(Source: NYPost)

Why the iPad is a far bigger threat to our children than anyone realises

My little enjoyed watching videos on the iPad while eating his food till he reached six months. Later when it got damaged, we thought it wise not to get it repaired, else he might get addicted to it. Now he doesn't even bother if anyone is using iPads in front of him.

I have seen how small kids of our friends are addictwed to this electronic device. Whenever we visit their places, kids (as small as 2 year old) are busy watching videos or playing games on iPad. If parents insist on playing with the toys instead of iPad, they throw tantrums in such a manner that they give in to the pressure and silently surrender the device to the hands of the little ones. It's unfortunate that the kids are hooked to the iPad at such a tender age.

Here's a wonderful scientific article written by psychologist Sue Palmer on the Daily Mail. She says dangerous technology could be to young children. She's shocked about how even the tiniest have become slaves to screens and goes on to say that excessive screen-time can lead to obesity, aggression and depression. Read it:

When the little girl pointed at the sweets at the checkout, her mother said: 'No, they're bad for your teeth.' So her daughter, who was no more than two, did what small children often do at such times. She threw a tantrum.

What happened next horrified me. The embarrassed mother found her iPad in her bag and thrust it into her daughter's hands. Peace was restored immediately.

This incident, which happened three years ago, was the first time I saw a tablet computer used as a pacifier. It certainly wasn't the last. Since then, I've seen many tiny children barely able to toddle yet expertly swiping an iPad - not to mention countless teenagers, smartphone in hand, lost to the real world as they tap out texts.

It's ten years since the publication of my book, Toxic Childhood, which warned of the dangers of too much screen-time on young people's physical and mental health.

My fears have been realised. Though I was one of the first to foresee how insidiously technology would penetrate youngsters' lives, even I've been stunned at how quickly even the tiniest have become slaves to screens - and how utterly older ones are defined by their virtual personas.

Indeed, when my book came out, Facebook had just hit our shores and we were more concerned with violent video games and children watching too much TV. Seems like ancient history, doesn't it?

Today, on average, children spend five to six hours a day staring at screens. And they're often on two or more screens at once - for example, watching TV while playing on an iPad.

Because technology moves so fast, and children have embraced it so quickly, it's been difficult for parents to control it. And when it comes to spending a childhood in front of a screen, this generation are like lab rats. The long-term impact is not known.

Even before iPads hit the market in 2010, experts were warning that 80 per cent of children arrived at school with poor co-ordination, due to a sedentary lifestyle.

Along with colleagues in the field of child development, I'd seen a rise in prescriptions for Ritalin, a drug for attention deficit and hyperactivity - a four-fold increase in less than a decade.

And we'd collected a mass of research showing links between excessive screen-time and obesity, sleep disorders, aggression, poor social skills, depression and academic under-achievement.

It's little wonder, then, that the boom in iPads and smartphones has coincided with further deterioration in the physical and mental health of children of all ages.

Sadly, we're seeing the rise of the 'techno-tot' for whom iPads have become the modern-day equivalent of a comfort blanket.

Recent research found 10 per cent of children under four are put to bed with a tablet computer to play with as they fall asleep.

One study of families owning them found a third of children under three had their own tablets. Baby shops even sell 'apptivity seats' into which a tablet can be slotted to keep toddlers entertained.

Few know that the late Apple boss Steve Jobs didn't let his own children have iPads. I wish he had gone public on this as other parents might have followed suit.

Few know that the late Apple boss Steve Jobs didn't let his own children have iPads. I wish he had gone public on this as other parents might have followed suit.

Because the earlier children are hooked on screens, the more difficult it is to wean them off.
This is not the only worry. It's not just what children get up to onscreen that affects their overall development. It's what screens displace - all the activities they're not doing in the real world.

Today's children have far fewer opportunities for what I call 'real play'. They are no longer learning through first-hand experiences how to be human and are much less likely to play or socialise outdoors or with others.

One of the most depressing examples of a totally screen-based childhood involved a ten-year-old in London. The overweight, pasty-faced little lad told me: 'I sit in my room and I watch my telly and play on my computer . . . and if I get hungry I text down to my mum and she brings me up a pizza.'

The change in children's play has happened in little more than a couple of decades. While many parents feel uneasy about all that screen-time, they haven't tackled it as they've been so busy keeping up with changes in their own lives.

And anyway, it's happening to children everywhere - so surely it can't be bad for them?

But real play is a biological necessity. One psychologist told me it was 'as vital for healthy development as food or sleep'.

Sue Palmer believes that excessive screen time can lead to obesity, sleep disorders and aggression

If the neural pathways that control social and imaginative responses aren't developed in early childhood, it's difficult to revive them later. A whole generation could grow up without the mental ability to create their own fun, devise their own games and enjoy real friendships - all because of endless screen-time.

It's getting out and about - running, climbing, making dens and so on - that allows little children to gain physical skills. Playing 'let's pretend' is a creative process requiring lots of personal input.

Real play develops initiative, problem-solving skills and many other positive traits, such as a can-do attitude, perseverance and emotional resilience. It's vital for social skills, too.

By playing together, youngsters learn to get along with other people. They discover how others' minds work, developing empathy.

And, as real play is driven by an innate desire to understand how the world works, it provides the foundation for academic learning.

Real play is evolution's way of helping children develop minds of their own - curious, problem- solving, adaptable, human minds.

The American Academy of Paediatrics recommends no screen-time for children under two and a maximum two hours a day there-after. This is not just due to a proven link between screen-time and attention disorders, but because it eliminates other activities essential for building healthy bodies and brains.

Babies are born with an intense desire to learn about their world, so they're highly motivated to interact with people and objects around them - the beginning of real play.

That's why they love it when we play silly games with them, such as peekaboo, or they manage to grasp some household object. This is what helps them develop physical co-ordination and social skills.

But when little ones can get instant rewards from high-tech devices, they don't need to bother with real play.

Images on a screen can be just as fascinating as the real world, and even a very small child can learn to control the images with a clumsy swish of podgy fingers.

Each time babies or toddlers make something happen on screen, they get the same sort of pleasure hit as they would from a cuddle or a splash in the bath.

When they can get instant rewards by swiping a screen, why bother with play that demands physical, social and cognitive effort?

Neuroscientist Susan Greenfield says: 'We cannot park our children in front of screens and expect them to develop a long attention span.'

She also worries about the effects of technology on literacy. 'Learning to read helps children learn to put ideas into logical order,' she says. 'On the other hand, staring at a screen puts their brains into suspended animation.'

Dr Aric Sigman, who has amassed a huge database of research linking children's screen-time to ADHD, autism and emotional and behavioural disorders, also points to the conflict between screen-based activity and reading.

'Unlike screen images, words don't move, make noises, sing or dance. Ultimately, screen images render the printed word simply boring at a crucial phase when the child's mind is developing,' he says.

Yet another problem with too much screen-gazing is that it doesn't develop resilience.

Real play gives children opportunities to learn how to cope with challenges for themselves. Finding how to learn from their mistakes, picking themselves up when they take a tumble and sorting out squabbles with playmates all help develop the self-confidence that makes children more emotionally resilient.

This is vital for mental health, especially in our high-pressure world. So I wasn't surprised when this month Childline warned Britain is producing deeply unhappy youngsters - sad, lonely, with low self-esteem and an increasing predilection to self-harm.

The charity painted a bleak portrait of our children's emotional state, blaming their unhappiness on social networking and cyber-bullying.

It's understandable parents feel unable to tackle their children's social media use. After all, it has spread like a virus. In 2012, just six years after Facebook arrived here, it was the favourite website of ten-year-old girls.

That year I interviewed three 15-year-old girls in Yorkshire who have been on Facebook since the age of ten. They said they didn't enjoy it as much as 'when we were young' because 'running our own PR campaigns' - as they wittily described the constant need to make their lives sound glamorous and exciting - was exhausting and they often felt miserable when others seemed to be having more fun.

But they couldn't give up the social media site as it would put them out of the social loop. 'There's lots of cyber-bullying,' one said. 'So you've got to try to be like everyone else.'

But we can't go on letting our children 'be like everyone else' when it's damaging them. If the next generation is to grow up bright, balanced and healthy enough to use technology wisely, parents need to take action.

And that means limiting screen-time, spending time together as a family and making sure get children out to play.

Some say children need to use technology because that's the way the world is going. But there's no need to give little children high-tech devices.

Modern technology develops at a phenomenal rate - any IT skills that children learn before the age of seven will be long past their sell-by date by the time they reach their teens.

But self-confidence, emotional resilience, creative thinking, social skills and the capacity for focused thought will stand them in good stead whatever the future brings.

TABLET ADDITION WRECKED A CHRISTENING  
Rosie Corriette is one parent who gave in and bought her young daughter an iPad. Elizabeth, four, would use it to watch Peppa Pig videos on car journeys or while Rosie made important phone calls.

Then came a family christening. Rosie and the other parents invited to the ceremony at St George's church in Ashstead, Surrey, tried to agree on the etiquette for technology in advance, worried their children would stare at screens all day.

Rosie Corriette, left, 26, a writer from Carshalton, Surrey, with her daughter Elizabeth, four, right, had a christening ruined by the use of an iPad in church. Immediately lots of children clustered round noisily 

They agreed a tablet amnesty. So days beforehand, Rosie reminded Elizabeth that she wouldn't be able to take her iPad to church. Elizabeth was disappointed, but agreed to leave it in the car.
At first, all was well. All of the children played quietly with crayons and building blocks at the back of the church.

'They were enjoying colouring in, and then we saw it,' says Rosie, 26, a writer from Carshalton, Surrey. One mother, it seems, had been unable to persuade her four-year-old to leave their tablet at home. Explaining that he was having 'a tough time', she had allowed her son to take along his iPad Mini.

The minute he pulled it out of its cover, the other children clustered round him, before loudly and insistently begging their parents for their own tablets.

The crayons and building blocks were cast aside and a sacred occasion was ruined by techno-tots.

Apple of the eye for some, not quite for others

In the shadow of Apple’s headquarters, an initiative requiring public middle schoolers to use iPads in class and at home has added to a battle over education in the digital age.

School district officials and many teachers say the iPads as innovative learning tools. Students, it seems, are thrilled to have them. But many parents in the affluent district question the benefit of the devices, and hundreds have signed a petition to limit their use.

They say the iPads have introduced new problems, like privacy and video-game distractions. And they resent being asked to pay hundreds of dollars for school equipment that state law says is the district’s responsibility.

“iPads are entertainment devices,” said Noemi Berry, a network engineer and mother of a seventh-grader and two other children. “They’re not designed for education, and they’re very hard to restrict. I have a 12-year-old boy who has a horrible screen-addiction problem.”

So far, the iPad proponents are winning, and soon hundreds more Cupertino middle-schoolers will be expected to use iPads linking them to their lessons, resources and the Internet.

Laura Plamondon teaches her class of iPad-enabled sixth graders at Lawson Middle School in Cupertino, California.

Cupertino Union School District spokesman Jeff Bowman said putting iPads in every middle-schooler’s hands has improved the quality of their work. Language ability, behaviour and organisational skills are better, the district says, although it has no quantifiable evidence of better learning. He said principals talk to parents about how to rein in excessive video-gaming.

Apple had no comment on Cupertino’s programme, and Bowman said the company didn’t influence the district’s decision to use its product.

It’s common for school districts to provide students computers or tablets for class use. A small but growing number now require students to use those devices, or their own, for homework, too.

Few, however, specify a manufacturer such as Apple, whose products tend to cost more than devices like Chromebooks, designed for use with Google software. Bowman said they chose iPads because they considered them more durable and versatile, and to offer instructional advantages.

Cupertino’s 1-to-1 — one device per pupil — programme has cost the district at least $363,000 this school year for hardware, software, management, security and teacher training. The programme is in three middle schools and expanding to two others early next year. Bond proceeds help pay for a supply of loaner iPads for students whose parents do not provide them one.

But school officials, who started the programme three years ago at Lawson Middle School, implied that it was families’ responsibility to provide the devices, which cost $563.

In doing so, they tread carefully around state law mandating free public education and barring districts from making parents pay for required school supplies. The district hasn’t required parents to buy them. With much negotiation, some parents have arranged for their children to use laptops or even paper. But parents say they feel school and social pressure to go along with the iPad programme.
“Nobody wants their kid to be the outlier,” Berry said.

Parents like Vaishnavi Sridhar, mother of a sixth-grader, said Bragg indicated at a meeting that district-owned devices were reserved for needy students.

“A lot of families that day went back home thinking they had to buy an iPad,” Sridhar said.

Victor Leung of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Southern California branch, which sued the state over schools charging fees or requiring supplies, said that, technically, Cupertino complies with the law by offering to provide devices. But he added that, legally, districts cannot pressure students to buy equipment and supplies.

The cost is only a small part of some parents’ objections to the iPad programme. Linda Wang said her son’s grades plummeted after he delightedly received his iPad. She takes the device with her when she leaves the house, and hides it from him at night.

“We cannot control his usage at all,” Wang said. Her family, which moved into the district last year, is now considering leaving out of frustration over the iPad. “I regret so much moving to Cupertino,” she said.

For some instructors, however, the devices have transformed teaching. Andi Jackson, who teaches eighth-grade English and social studies, said iPads offer students many ways to show what they’ve learned.

“Before the iPad,” Jackson said, “there was basically one way — write an essay and turn it in.”

Peter Chu, a software executive whose daughter Ashley is a ninth-grader at Cupertino High School, sees the iPad as a phenomenal education tool that’s “creative, engaging and appropriate for this day and age.”

Ashley said the classes at Lawson in which teachers embraced the iPads were her favourites. One of her memorable assignments was creating a video explaining how palaeontology proves evolution.

“Making a story about an event lets me better remember that,” she said. Of about 180 Lawson parents who responded to a district survey last year, just under half said they valued their children’s’ iPad work. A third said it had improved their kids’ attitude toward school. The district plans to form a task force to review its educational technology use; meanwhile, it’s expanding its iPads-for-all programme to two other middle schools.

But some parents have arranged for their children to use a district-owned iPad while at school. Those devices don’t come home. An online petition is asking the Cupertino district to standardise that practice, providing iPads for students and keeping them in the classroom. It has attracted more than 650 signatures.

Lawson parent Vidya Sundaresan chose to keep her son out of the iPad programme altogether. She and her husband, both scientists, have seen no proof that iPads improve learning and worry the devices could increase risk of ergonomic problems and eye strain. Parent Carrie O’Leary shares their concern.

“I’m not against Apple products at all,” said O’Leary, whose husband is an Apple engineer. “I just want sensible policy.” — The Mercury News (San Jose, California)/TNS

(Source: Gulf Times)

Canadian man uses iPad to enter the US

When I saw a joke on Facebook, I laughed at it, but now, somehow I’m surprised at the way the technology is moving and the people are utilizing it. A Canadian who realized he forgot his passport as he approached the US border found a new way to gain entry, through his iPad. Yes, not a joke. iPad helped him to cross the border.

I read a report which said that a Canadian, Martin Reisch, said that a slightly annoyed US border officer let him cross into the United States from Quebec after he presented a scanned copy of his passport on his Apple iPad. Reisch was just a half an hour from the border when he decided to try to gain entry rather than turn back and make a two-hour trek back home to Montreal to fetch his passport.

He told the officer that he was heading to the US to drop off Christmas gifts for his friend's kids. The officer seemed mildly annoyed when he handed him the iPad. "I thought I'd at least give it a try," Reisch said. "He took the iPad into the little border hut. He was in there a good five, six minutes. It seemed like an eternity. When he came back he took a good long pause before wishing me a Merry Christmas."

Reisch said the officer made an exception.

Canadians began needing more than a driver's licence for identification for US land border crossings in 2009. US Customs and Border Protection says it only accepts a passport, an enhanced driver's licence or a Nexus pass from Canadian citizens entering at land crossings. The list doesn't mention facsimiles, like scans and photocopies.

A spokesman for the department did not immediately respond to questions on whether scanned passports are also commonly accepted at US points of entry.

Reisch, 33, said he took a scanned photo of his passport years ago in case it was over lost or stolen while traveling. He said he also successfully used the passport on his iPad to get through Canadian Customs on the way home later that day.

He said he doubts he'd get away with it again and will bring his passport next time. But he hopes border officials will eventually make digital identification an official form of travel document. He noted that many airlines now accept digital boarding passes stored on smartphones.

"I see the future as 100 per cent being able to cross with your identity on a digital device -- it's just a matter of time," he said.