So-called “iPad kids” are a popular subject with this generation. An iPad Kid is a child that is seemingly glued to their iPad or tablet. Since technology is a permanent fixture and only evolving, it has raised the question, how much is too much?
Having a child can be difficult, especially when going into public. A lot of parents have decided to give an iPad to their children to distract or entertain them but now are feeling like children are relying on them.
“My 7-year-old brother is an iPad kid, which makes me sad sometimes.” said Jacob Lewis, a history and geography major. “Jackson experiences ticks whenever he’s not around his iPad, which is concerning to me. However, many other kids experience the same thing that Jackson does. I feel strongly that children should not be dependent on their iPads.”
“With a 2017 study from Common Sense Media finding that nearly 80 percent of children have access to an iPad or other type of tablet, these days it’s stranger for a kid to be offline than extremely online,” said Eloise Hendy, a writer at VICE magazine. “Gen Alpha – meaning anyone born between 2010 and 2024 – are defined and utterly subsumed by the digital world.”
Children have access to technology at a very young, impressionable age, and since technology is evolving, the long-term effects could continue to develop.
“My daughter is 12 now, and she’s had her own iPhone for a little over one year, and she received a MacBook for Christmas,” said Amanda Respess, a mass communication professor and director of public affairs at GC. “The phone became a necessity in middle school because of after-school activities and being at friends’ houses, etc., and the MacBook is a huge help for school because they do so much work on Microsoft Teams.”
Since COVID, a lot of schools use online platforms for their students in class. So, children ultimately need devices at young ages in order to access their schoolwork.
“I think, overall, having access to device technology is unavoidable,” Respess said. “So much of my children’s school experience is mediated through technology. It makes total sense to use technology at home to continue that learning environment, but it’s every parent or adult family member’s responsibility to set limits, pay attention and, above all, talk to their kids about using technology and being online.”
The world of media has undergone significant changes in recent times. Parents tend to share pictures and videos of their children right from the time they are born. According to the Pew Research Center, this has made the kids more aware of their appearance and actions, as they are continually exposed to images of themselves.
“Today’s 13-year-olds are basically a different species,” Hendy said. “Their parents have shared photos and embarrassing videos of them online since day dot. They graduated from iPads to smart phones when they were eight. They knew how to contour before you did. They probably know their way around the dark web.”
Recently, TikToks have been raving about this issue. People are concerned for the children of this generation. Gen-Z parents are worried they will raise iPad kids, which has spawned an entire subset of videos online. These videos poke fun at iPad kids and their parents that allow it.
“I feel that parents spend too much time on their phones, while their children look at them,” Lewis said. “They see this as a way to live. With iPad kids in the world, it tends to scare me as to how an entire generation will grow up differently.”
Since “iPad kids” are growing more attached to staying stimulated with screens, this issue will likely continue.
