Smartphones, Tablets and Children!

One of the biggest challenges faced by parents today is technological “screen time” . With the advancement of smartphones, high definition TVs and tablets, technology is very much part of every household. The dangers of excessive “screen time” is also well documented with techno-geeks like Steve Jobs, limiting how technology is used at home. Many parents today are worried about how technology can discourage social interaction, and how a child’s mind is not actively engaged when they spend hours with their tablets. However, with every adult interfacing with technology daily, one cannot ignore or negate the fact that technology will continue to play a prominent role in each of our lives.

To avoid “throwing the baby out with the bathwater”, parents must therefore play a more active role in parenting with technology. In my family, we only allow our kids to play with their tablets on the weekends, and mostly only on a “need to” basis. Yes! When we can’t get a baby sitter, or when the kids are stuck in a restaurant with no play area, the tablet does have a role to play. At times like these, we are glad that our Samsung tablet has an application like Samsung KidsTime which offers a safe environment for the kids to explore. Armed with games and ebooks that are curated and vetted by a child-conscious community of experts, we can safely let the kids discover games that not only entertain, but further aid them in their current school curriculum. With challenging games, that encourage the kids to improve on their mathematics and reading skills, Samsung KidsTime has something for every kid.

Our concerns for the safety and purposeful development of our children seems to be shared by many like-minded parents in South East Asia. Recently, TheAsianParents.com Insights conducted a survey on 2,700 parents to analyse device usage among young kids. Here are some of the findings:

 

• 98% of children in South East Asia use mobile devices, and 67% use their parents devices.
• This means that Parents are in control of their children’s exposure to the Internet.

• Boys and Girls seem to love their devices, as we can clearly witness in our families.

 

• Survey highlights that 41% of kids spend more than 1 hour on their tablets, when they are given a device. As expected, time seems to fly by, when the kids are given their tech devices.

• Most of the time, parents are afraid that heavy usage of technology will impact their children’s development. There are also fears of addiction and exposure to inappropriate content.
• Parents also allow their children to use these devices, as they see the educational and entertainment benefits.

• Although there is a high usage of devices in restaurants and in the midst of travelling, 99% of usage is found at home.
• Therefore, education and restriction of usage must start in our homes!

 

• Parents surveyed also indicated that they want their devices to be able to limit time usage, prevent inappropriate purchases, and the ability to monitor usage and progress

The results of the survey are definitely interesting, and it also goes to show that Samsung KidsTime does have something to offer the modern parent. In fact, it is not surprising  that one of my favorite functions found in Samsung KidsTime, is it’s ability to limit tablet usage through a timer. Kids and parents alike can lose track of time when they start utilizing their favorite applications.

Samsung KidsTime can therefore step in to help parents, by limiting usage through a timer, and adding on a layer of protection for the family, by hosting kids in a password protected marketplace. With Samsung KidsTime, kids are prohibited from accidentally downloading any program, unless their parents allow their kids to do so. Aided by an application that monitors usage and educational progress, Samsung KidsTime seems to have struck a chord with many parents.

Check out what these parents have to say about Samsung KidsTime:

Everyone seems to be loving their experience with Samsung KidsTime and the educational apps which they provide. To find out more, you can download Samasung KidsTime for free at the Google Play Store. Alternatively, you can find out more at www.samsungkidstime.com