Touch-screen babysitters put kids at risk

IPads to the rescue! Chinese parents are relying on them and other touch-screen devices to entertain and educate their children while they get on with their busy lives.

But experts are warning against using such devices as a kind of babysitter.

Touch-screens have ranked top sellers for city children in China this year, and today, International Children's Day, will as usual see millions of them playing madly on the devices.

"An iPad isn't a toy. It's a toy box full of toys," said Yang Qingmeng, a Shanghai resident with a 12-year-old son.

With numerous apps for various age groups and an appealing user interface, the iPad allows children to interact with technology at a younger age. But despite the apparent advantages, touch-screens are arousing concerns about the effects they have on children.

Children are becoming more selfish and not willing to share with others, said Zhang Daoyu, dean of students at Furong Primary School in east China's Hefei. She said children were indulging themselves more in the virtual world with no practical cooperation and communication with their peers.

During the period when a child's brain develops rapidly, electronic devices can isolate him or her from reality, having a kind of "self sealing" effect, said Chen Mo, a researcher with the Shanghai Psychological Counseling Association.

Known as "iPad-kids" or "digital kids," the isolated generation can hardly bear complicated social challenges if their thinking models are shaped by software programs, he said.

"It accompanies me most weekends, while I'm not accompanied by parents and classmates," said Jiang Yuting, an eight-year-old girl at the Shanghai Zhongyuan Experimental School.

"I can hardly imagine how boring life would be if I had no iPad," she said.

To some modern Chinese parents, mostly born after 1970s or 1980s, the iPad and similar devices are seen as lifesavers, releasing them from their children's constant harassment.

"He will quickly become totally absorbed in games while I give him an iPad in exchange for a few moments of peace and quiet to work, drive or make dinner," said Yang.

In some schools, the iPad or other electronic devices are more than an entertainment tool, but a way of life for those who have one or more.

New apps are becoming common conversation topics for children or even their teachers, said a mother surnamed Chen with a 10-year-old daughter in Shanghai.

Experienced users are popular, and those with no iPad are easily neglected, Chen said.

"Parents try their best to buy one for their children, to avoid isolation from others."