The Daily Mail is reporting that more than 1-in-4 mother’s — 27 per cent to be precise — will hand her cranky or bored baby a mobile phone — rather than, you know, something whose name literally means to pacify.
But, while such a statistic to some may seem like an unfortunate sign of the times, this actually might not be such a terrible thing.
With more smartphones on the market than ever, babies given their mother’s phone to play with have the opportunity to begin developing their fine motor skills and hand/eye coordination at an early age. Of course there are all sort of educational apps available for toddlers and small children, too: puzzles, word and number games.
Sure, too much technological stimulation can have unfavourable effects — attention span being the favourite subject in this type of discussion. But, before anyone goes and writes off this 1-in-4 statistic as a maternal crime against humanity, or as just a real shame, perhaps we ought to take a look at these smartphone babies, say, 10 years down the line.
Is it possible that they will be better off? [DailyMail – Image via Apple’s Eyes Studio/Shutterstock]