Writing Feedback / Effect of Technology on Children - Persuasive [3]

Note: This essay is not complete. I just want to see if I'm on the right track.
The objective of this is to persuade an audience whether young children's exposure to smartphones and tablets is good or bad. Hopefully you'll know what position I have on it.

We often worry about where the nearest WiFi hotspot is, or what's trending on social media. But, instead, should we be concerned about our latest generation and their now seemingly "obsession" to technology?

In a study from AT&T and GfK, a market research company, 12.1 years is the average age for a child's first cell phone. In the United Kingdom, it's even lower, at an astonishing 8 years of age (though usually they are not "smart" phones).

Anyway, what we should actually be troubled about are the smallest children - infants. Tablets, smartphones, and other new devices ruining the next generation's earliest years. There is much harm done by flipping out an iPhone so a toddler can play.

"I reached the breaking point," wrote Ben Popper on theverge(dot)com. His newborn son, Oliver, had hit a phase where his five senses were really "coming online." Oliver was crying many times throughout the day. In desperation, the elder Popper did something that until that point he "had resisted: (he) grabbed (his) iPhone and opened up the Comics app." The app replaced crying with awe and delight, though much to the dismay of his family - who promptly questioned the act with a "don't you know how bad that is for his brain?"

In a survey done by Northwestern's School of Communication, 37% of parents are likely to "use their tablet or smartphone to entertain their kids". However, only 10% of American parents turn "to mobile devices to educate their kids." In other studies, many babies have chosen iPads over their own mothers. This is an issue -- though it is good that only 37% of parents will resort to their handheld device, it's awful that a young child would turn to an iPad instead of their own mother's guidance and care.

The issue is becoming more relevant every day, as newer, faster, and greater pieces of technology are released by big-name companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Google, etc. Because of the, frankly, child-friendly devices that include large touchscreens and simple layouts, children are able to use them. Technology has never been more intriguing. So many parents are using technology as a way to calm their infant's crying. However, they should actually be doing what many parents before them did, or the "old-fashioned way". There used to be a world without touch screens and Siri.