Parents are using smartphones to entertain bored kids CNN reports

Ok some parents might think this is a bad thing…but we think its just awesome!

CNN reports more and more parents are discovering smartphones’ wonderous ability to engage squirmy kids at restaurants, in the car and anywhere else where youngsters grow bored.

More parents today are handing their smartphones to their kids to keep them entertained. So much so that almost half of the top 100-selling iPhone apps are for preschool or elementary-aged kids

One of the main reasons why smartphones are becoming the boredom buster of choice for parents is because smartphones, with their easy to use touchscreens and bright colours, are very attractive to children.

For parents, the smartphone’s ability to act as a learning tool makes a compelling case to purchase apps that are specificllay designed for kids.

One researcher from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center (part of the Sesame Workshop) calls this phenomenon the “pass-back” effect — as in parents passing their phones back to their bored kids.

This “pass-back” effect is so compelling that even AT&T acknowledged the trend in its current commercial where Luke Wilson “passes back” a smartphone to a crying child in a restaurant.

The smartphone of choice for parents? Boasting over 180,000 apps in its App Store, it’s pretty obvious that parents are turning to the iPhone to remedy boredom.

Shortly after the iPhone came out, children as young as 3 years old are already playing with the device, as most observers cite that the interactive nature of the touchscreen device make it a definitive puller.

Readup the full report here.

Yes, times have definitely changed.

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