Kids are frequently handed their device loaded with educational or entertaining games, YouTube and streaming services to provide the guardians with an excuse to lounge. Thousands of parents have shared horror stories about their child’s extreme behaviors when they attempted to limit or cut off their iPad usage. However, YouTube wins the award for most brain activation, with thousands of channels, like “Cocomelon” and “Dave and Ava;” creating fast paced animations, there is no room for competition. The “Cocomelon-Nursery Rhymes” channel has almost 130 million subscribers and produces video adaptations of classic, youthful stories, but the nature of the animations creates a powerful brain stimulant, almost drug-like, in young minds.
These YouTube pages targeted at young audiences brand themselves as educational and beneficial sources of entertainment to appease guardians, but the viewers are gaining little applicable knowledge from the videos. The typical animated story features scene changes every one to three seconds, flashing lights, deep color shades and memorable music. Since young children are spending more time on their iPads than with parents, siblings or friends, they are showing a lack of emotional and social awareness. Around 70% of current parents admit to their child’s technology usage leading to a decrease in social skills and ability to form healthy relationships.
With their reliance on technology replacing the essential skills gained during a typical period of early childhood development, the new generation will be left without meaningful connections and a true sense of self in adulthood.
New ‘iPad kid’ phenomenon reflects unsettling reality of screen time addiction — and it’s time for parents to do something about it – Saratoga Falcon
This is part of a new generation of “iPad kids,” a boom in children hooked to their tablets as a result of the increasing integration of technology into our daily lives at ever younger ages, further exacerbated by the device-reliance caused by the pandemic. With the increase in iPad usage only imposing damage on children, parents must begin to take action and stop letting electronics take care of their child. This lack of communication skills extends even further as children addicted to their screens often become short tempered, growing a self-centered ego as if everything has to go their way every time. The answer stems from parents, who have voiced that iPads are an easy way to keep their kids engaged, since a quick distraction for their children can alleviate stress in potentially difficult situations. However, parents should recognize that introducing screen time to their children at an early age has many negative effects — a way to calm kids down may turn into a cycle of addiction that impacts their development and later life. Providing a child with unlimited access to the internet can in no way be an adequate substitute for real parenting, especially with such young children.
“iPad Kids” are Shaping the Future of Education
Generation Z students, like Fourth-year Criminal Justice major at Seattle University Jennifer Huffman, have noticed the impact of “iPad kids” around them compared to their own adolescent years. Some in Generation Z have frowned upon the idea of raising their own children as “iPad kids” after witnessing recent hyper fixation with technology. First-year Diagnostic Ultrasound student Shauna Larsen explained how she would feel about integrating technology into her child’s life at a young age. A CNBC report describes the move of digital media companies to the classroom over ten years ago — and the role of technology has only increased since.
With the convenience and ease that comes with modern day devices, it isn’t rare to see toddlers consume educational media through technology. When students work on assignments in an online environment, they often lack timely access to their professor or peers for help — something Huffman resonated with.
Regardless of technology, the ways students study, learn, retain information and perform in classroom environments has been a contested topic of discussion now that most universities have returned to in person instruction. Second-year biology major Emma Kritsepsis is grateful for the increased use of technology in her education, noting how much it has impacted her learning experiences. First-year business major Nathan Kwan finds himself grateful for the opportunities technology has brought him throughout his education thus far.
With how easy it is to access lessons on essential math, science and English for virtually free, something you couldn’t do back then, it speaks volumes when you compare it to the prices of college tuition,” Kwan said. As prices of college tuition have continuously increased, some have found themselves opting out of attending traditional university, as they can find similar forms of education online easily, in some cases as accessible as a cellphone in their pocket. However, for students who do choose to attend college, many have found technology to be a necessity as it is sometimes their only means of accessing homework, lesson plans and other important classroom materials.
However, teachers are continuing to utilize Zoom, Canvas and other applications that were essential during the height of the pandemic as a central part of their classes.
The rise of the iPad Kids
“Ademon who watches cocomelon.” This graphic, five-word definition from the Urban Dictionary (a very reliable source) summarizes the iPad kid we’ve all come to know and reject. Their iPads are usually crusty and filthy, with ridiculous stuff like Cheeto dust on them.” Those who have witnessed the effects of technology on impressionable young minds can attest to the accuracy of this description.
In their defense, remote learning and quarantine during the pandemic left many children dependent on their technology for schooling and entertainment.
This led to 44% of five- to ten-year-old children exceeding four hours of screen time per day, more than double the average before the pandemic. Being an iPad kid isolated me so much that I didn’t even notice how annoying I was until I grew out of it.” Cameron’s villain origin story shaped him to mind.
iPad Kid
On March 5th, 2021, YouTuber EmilyNotFound posted a clip from a Quackity stream where he responds to comments saying he coughs like an iPad kid, calling it the “worse insult anyone can give to you,” garnering over 523,000 views in under two years (shown below). On March 22nd and 27th, Redditors karambit_master00981 and TheRedstoneMan_YT (shown below) posted iPad kid starter pack memes to /r/starterpacks, garnering over 1,700 and 30,000 upvotes, respectively, in just under two years. On February 11th, 2022, Twitter user @venicebitch222 posted, “i wasn’t an ipad kid i was a pink nintendo ds girl🙄🙄,” garnering over 127,000 likes and 29,000 retweets in nine months (shown below).
On July 6th, TikToker @phoebeandkye posted a video where she films her boyfriend, calling him an iPad kid, garnering over 11 million views in four months (shown below, left). On November 10th, Twitter user @feederofcats posted a video of their cat playing on a phone, captioned, “I regret to inform everyone that your favorite 3 footed kitten is in fact….. an ipad kid,” garnering over 18,000 likes and 93,000 views in four days (shown below).
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