Children today use smartphones regularly, and it starts early. While most children don’t get a smartphone until they are 11 years old, some 43 percent of parents keep their children entertained with smartphones. In fact, children aged 2 to 4 years old spend an average of 10 minutes per day using a smartphone, and that number increases steadily as the child grows up — but that doesn’t mean the time is wasted. Many smartphones have educational apps designed just for children — and they are popular. On average, children 2 to 10 years old spend over 35 percent of their time on smartphones using educational media.
With numbers like that, it is no wonder that many new smartphones are catering to children. Phones like the child-friendly Apple iPhone 5C allow parents to enable restrictions so that their little ones can’t access certain apps, while Guided Access lets parents lock the phone into a single app so that children can play a game but not access email, for instance. What’s more, app makers are getting into the game. Children of all ages can enjoy age-appropriate activities on smartphones, like Peekaboo Barn, which lets toddlers tap on barn doors to reveal animals and hear the sounds they make, or Toca Lab, which lists science experiments that primary school children can do at home.
Read on to learn more about how children interact with smartphones, and how you can use one to meet your child’s educational and entertainment needs.
