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42% of Americans Under 8 Have Their Own Tablet (axios.com)

A reader shares an Axios report: A whopping 42% of children ages 0-8 have their own tablet device, up from less than 1% in 2011, according to Common Sense Media's newest national "Media Use by Kids" census. Families with young children are now more likely to have a subscription video service such as Netflix or Hulu (72%) than they are to have cable TV (65%). 10% of kids age 8 or under own a "smart" toy that connects to the internet and 9% have a voice-activated virtual assistant device available to them in the home, such as an Amazon Echo or Google Home.

17 of 221 comments (clear)

  1. A modern pacifier by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Funny

    Not too surprising. Just as the Boomers, were suck in front of the TV, Gen X were given Video Games, Menials have Cell Phones. It makes scene that today's kids have the newest technology to pacify them. We can tout bad parenting... But in truth having an outlet where the child is out of your hands for an hour or so, it overall beneficial. Kids before that technology were just beaten if they were too much of a problem... So having a kid, watch a movie on a tablet in terms of perspective is a good thing.

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    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    1. Re:A modern pacifier by jellomizer · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The kids on the the side that lost WWII were beaten as well.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    2. Re:A modern pacifier by CanHasDIY · · Score: 3, Interesting

      1. You don't have to search for porn to find it.
      2. This claim is based on what empirical data?
      3. You don't have to fill out any forms to view a porn site.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    3. Re:A modern pacifier by war4peace · · Score: 3, Informative

      My kids have an unfiltered but monitored Internet Connection. They also have a separate account than mine, on the PC (Windows) and laptop (Windows). They have no tablet or smart phone yet.
      I have analyzed the data gathered from their gaming and website accessing for the last 6 months and found one occurrence of questionable data, which was an ad to a zombie game. In fact, it was an image containing "other games from us", split in 4, and one of the quarters had an image of a cartoon character shooting a cartoon zombie. The most likely reason for the "cleanliness" of their data is the fact that major data providers (Microsoft, Google) have become so good at establishing and reinforcing the information bubble that it effectively protects them from accessing questionable sources, namely they don't see them in "recommended" data (be it other games, Youtube videos, etc).

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      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
    4. Re:A modern pacifier by Moof123 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yep. Our 5 year old has my old tablet. But that doesn't mean he is glued to it 12 hours a day. He probably uses it about 1-2 hours a week such as on Saturday mornings when we just are not read to get up when he is. It is also very nice to load it with a few favorite movies for car trips. Even then he only watches maybe an hour or two's worth of movies/shows over 8 hours of driving.

      Like many things, there can be responsible use or irresponsible misuse. I see nothing wrong with modest amounts of TV watching, but I am also not about to use it as a baby sitter.

    5. Re:A modern pacifier by known_coward_69 · · Score: 3, Informative

      my ten year old older kid is always on youtube, but he can describe exactly how a car's powertrain works from the stuff he watches. Not like when i vegged out to stupid westerns in the 80's

  2. Re:Makes sense by Captain+Splendid · · Score: 5, Informative

    Only because you have no imagination. I'm still using mine as a light browser, email client, videophone, occasional gaming time waster, VNC client, as well as acting as the remote for my soundbar, TV and Plex server.

    --
    Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
  3. Re:Makes sense by Drethon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Only because you have no imagination. I'm still using mine as a light browser, email client, videophone, occasional gaming time waster, VNC client, as well as acting as the remote for my soundbar, TV and Plex server.

    I would but my laptop does these just fine and takes up just about as little space while doing a lot more at the same time.

  4. surprisingly low by smithcl8 · · Score: 4, Informative

    All the kids in my school district have iPads from Kindergarten on. They use the heck out of them, too. Make music, little stop-motion videos, a little coding stuff, and some math/reading games. I don't even have to push them to play those things.....they are just better than Mavis Beacon when I was younger.

  5. Re:Makes sense by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 3, Informative

    Tablets are useful, don't be a dolt. They are not desktop replacements. They are not laptop replacements. They are not essential-must have items.

    For kids they're great pacifiers. But my son, who is 9, is at the point where he wants a PCMR PC, and tablets are becoming more of a utility rather than the center of his world.

    The problem is that some marketing dolt somewhere kept trying to push the idea that tablets were going to replace computers. It didn't happen, it's not going to happen.

  6. Statistics not valid by rtfa0987 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Only covers kids whose parents have email and are on some unspecified email list. "Methodology. This report presents the results of a nationally representative, probability-based online survey of 1,454 parents of children age 8 or under, conducted from Jan. 20, 2017, to Feb. 10, 2017. The survey was designed by Common Sense and VJR Consulting and fielded by the research firm GfK, using its KnowledgePanel©, a probability-based web panel designed to be representative of the U.S. population." https://www.commonsensemedia.o... Aren't surveys fun?

  7. Re:Makes sense by cayenne8 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I'm actually SOOOO glad they didn't have this shit or cameras on everyones' person when I was growing up.

    I actually got to go outside and play and use my imagination, and no one to track me or take incriminating evidence of me while I acted upon said imagination....

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    Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  8. Parents First by scubamage · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Parents need to remember that your kid is learning from your behavior. If you have your nose in your phone and tablet all day every day, you are teaching your kid that that is acceptable behavior. No matter how much you try to restrict their access to it, they are very likely to mimic you in the end. If you use a phone and tablet sparsely and put an emphasis on doing other things, the kid is much more likely to do the same. So, giving them a tablet isn't that huge of a deal so long as you yourself don't have one surgically attached at the hip.

  9. Big deal by riverat1 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Big deal, I had a tablet when I was 8 years old (57 years ago) too. It had 64 pages of lined paper and I put it to good use. Now get off my lawn!

  10. Re:Makes sense by thinkwaitfast · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Hard to lean back in a laze-boy chair and type fast on a tablet computer. Even my mom got rid of hers after a month and went back to a laptop. Also easier to read when taken into the kitchen.

  11. Re:Makes sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    We've been the slowest part of computing for the last three decades.

    Microsoft: "Hold my beer."

  12. Re:Makes sense by bondsbw · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Aircraft for one. My laptop doesn't usually have room to open fully.

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    All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.