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Have mobile devices reached the saturation point yet?

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 3:55 am
by Apollonius
Nearly all children under 4 have used mobile devices, U.S. study suggests - CBC News, 2 November 2015
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/mobile-de ... -1.3297980


Parents of four-year-olds from a low-income neighbourhood of Philadelphia have said in a survey that most of their children own mobile media devices, and now researchers who made that discovery say more study is urgently needed to draft guidelines for families.

As recently as 2013, studies pointed to a "digital divide" in ownership of devices such as tablets and smartphones based on income. To see if this gap persists, researchers surveyed parents of 350 children aged six months to four years.

"Our study found almost universal exposure, early adoption, and use of mobile media devices among young children in an urban, low-income, minority community," lead author Dr. Hilda Kabali of Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia and her co-authors report in Monday's issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Currently, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the journal's publisher, advises eliminating screen time for children younger than two, because of concerns for how the use of the devices may delay how children learn language.


At age two, most children were using mobile devices daily and spending comparable amounts of time on television and mobile devices, the researchers found.For example, daily screen time in minutes for two-year-olds in the study was 44 minutes, time watching videos or TV shows on a mobile device was 29 minutes, and time spent using apps was 20 minutes.


[....]


"It's worrying that mobile devices are encouraging children and parents to use media reflexively rather than mindfully. We need to promote the idea that using media is something you choose to do, rather than something that just happens in the background, from an early age," Johnson said in an email.

"As well, when possible, parents should try to turn media use into an interactive experience, co-viewing with their kids to help them learn to engage critically with the messages they receive and encouraging the use of media as a springboard to creative play."

There are questions, too, about whether trying to pay attention to more than one medium at a time has long-term consequences on young children's ability to focus on a single task, he said.

Johnson also said there's no evidence young children get any benefit from educational media, whether apps or programs.

Little is known about how children's independent activity on mobile devices affects their cognitive, social and emotional development, Kabali and her team said. They urge further research to evaluate the impact of mobile device use on child development and to determine ways to approach it constructively.

Among the limitations of their study is that parents may have given answers they thought were expected, known as social desirability bias, and they may not have recalled use of devices correctly. Also, the apps were classified based on descriptions from the app developer rather than an independent source.

There was no external funding for the U.S. study.

Re: Have mobile devices reached the saturation point yet?

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 5:17 am
by noddy
this is going to be fascinating as time goes by.

the next milestone is when the law demands you carry one, lay your bets now !

it definately wont happen while the boomers are still around, they have too many luddites, but from genx onwards its murkier.

Re: Have mobile devices reached the saturation point yet?

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 1:33 pm
by Simple Minded
This will be fascinating to watch, the changes in social behavior are already pretty amazing. Sending and receiving seem preferable to actual interaction for many yutes.

I suspect imagination will play an ever greater role in how one perceives than ever before.

although the social benefits of Big Brother texting "BEHAVE!" to all citizens every 3 minutes should not be underestimated.

Re: Have mobile devices reached the saturation point yet?

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 2:33 pm
by Nonc Hilaire
I was chided for reading at the table and for watching TV. Smartphones are a type of social interaction, and I think better than reading MAD magazine and watching Gilligan's Island - both of which were supposed to "rot my brain" (note: correlation does not equal causation).

Looking back, periods of intense social interaction were usually centered around getting laid. Family conclaves were boring, and long car trips were torture. Even a GameBoy would have been a blessing. A smartphone with news, camera, games, movies, books and music is a godsend!

This is a case of the good old days not being quite as good as we remember.

Image

Re: Have mobile devices reached the saturation point yet?

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2015 12:17 pm
by noddy
as for the question.

yes they are close to saturation point now and totally commoditised, apples glory days are numbered :P

we will never again be stuck for a book to read, album to listen to, movie/tv series to watch etc etc ever again.

the potential madness i think that might occur is everyone becoming ultra jaded euro trash types, bored of everything and anything.

Re: Have mobile devices reached the saturation point yet?

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2015 5:43 pm
by Apollonius
Nonc,


I wonder if your comparison doesn't miss the point.


Fifty and sixty years ago kids played with each other basically unsupervised in the woods, in the parks, and in the streets. My parents even let us take bus trips into town to go watch a movie.


Kids mowed lawns, washed dishes, and has other responsibilities, like doing school homework. They were even taught to be respectful to their parents, to teachers, to neighbours, and even to strangers.


Kids also read books, studied for exams, didn't get google to write their papers and their emails for them.



Nowadays they often text one another when they are sitting in the same room, that way being able to make snide comments about someone else without them knowing.

Re: Have mobile devices reached the saturation point yet?

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2015 9:57 pm
by Nonc Hilaire
Apollonius wrote:Nonc,


I wonder if your comparison doesn't miss the point.


Fifty and sixty years ago kids played with each other basically unsupervised in the woods, in the parks, and in the streets. My parents even let us take bus trips into town to go watch a movie.


Kids mowed lawns, washed dishes, and has other responsibilities, like doing school homework. They were even taught to be respectful to their parents, to teachers, to neighbours, and even to strangers.


Kids also read books, studied for exams, didn't get google to write their papers and their emails for them.



Nowadays they often text one another when they are sitting in the same room, that way being able to make snide comments about someone else without them knowing.
Agreed, but I think culture changed far before smartphones became endemic. In the suburban US kids have rarely played except in fenced in backyards for two decades out of an absurdly amplified fear of kidnapping. Unattended kids are considered reason to call the police 'for their protection' and evidence of neglectful parenting.

My daughter keeps in touch with her friends via Instagram. Many have moved out of state. Throw in a natural infatuation with new technology and I am reluctant to make smartphones a scapegoat.

Re: Have mobile devices reached the saturation point yet?

Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2015 1:43 pm
by Simple Minded
Nonc Hilaire wrote: Agreed, but I think culture changed far before smartphones became endemic. In the suburban US kids have rarely played except in fenced in backyards for two decades out of an absurdly amplified fear of kidnapping. Unattended kids are considered reason to call the police 'for their protection' and evidence of neglectful parenting.
Strange how that happens, the imagination can run wild and dominate the zeitgeist at times.

I've always felt a little bit sorry for those who were not allowed to be "free range kids" from about age 5 to 15. Maybe having parents and older siblings who you feared more than strangers was key.

Interesting timing of your post and Peggy's article:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/05/opinions/ ... index.html

Re: Have mobile devices reached the saturation point yet?

Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2016 3:18 pm
by Typhoon
Social Media App Usage Down Across the Globe
Across the board, people are spending less time on their Social Media apps. In a study conducted using SimilarWeb data on Android apps, we compared app data from Q1 2015 to Q1 2016, and found that in almost all countries, time spent on the 4 leading Social Media apps is down. On Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter, Android users seem to be cutting down on their Social Media app usage time.

Re: Have mobile devices reached the saturation point yet?

Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2016 2:54 am
by noddy
not only approaching saturation, also hitting the technical wall.

the top of the line versus midrange is increasingly becoming about fancy case materials and not about cpu/ram/storage and apple has just announced they will change to a 3 year product cycle.

http://www.newsweek.com/apple-iphone-7- ... ogy-465208