In Defense of Digital Play

Yesterday’s New York Times article “Toddler’s Favorite Toy: The iPhone” poses an interesting and potentially polarizing question: sure, the iPhone is simple enough for a toddler to use, but is it actually good for kids that young to be playing with it?

As the author points out, many parents have come to rely on their mobile devices not just as communications tools, but as Digital Pacifiers – to the detriment, some fear, of more traditional forms of play, entertainment, and learning:

“Please … just say no. It is not too hard to distract a toddler with, say … a book.”

“We don’t let our toddler touch our iPhones … it takes away from creative play.”

The article goes on to cite a number of child development specialists with concerns about this trend. For years, the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended against screen time for children under the age of two. When asked if parents should put the same restrictions on use of devices like the iPhone , Dr. Gwenn Schurgin O’Keeffe, a pediatrician and member of the academy’s council on communications and media, said, “At the moment, we seem to feel it’s the same as TV.” In response to some parents’ claims that the iPhone can be an educational tool to help kids learn skills like spelling and reading, educational psychologist Jane M. Healy responded, “Any parent who thinks a spelling program is educational for that age is missing the whole idea of how the preschool brain grows. What children need at that age is whole body movement, the manipulation of lots of objects and not some opaque technology. You’re not learning to read by lining up the letters in the word ‘cat.’ You’re learning to read by understanding language, by listening. Here’s the parent busily doing something and the kid is playing with the electronic device. Where is the language? There is none.”

While I find it hard to argue with the opinions posed by the Times – most kid-content available on the iOS platform today offers very little benefit to the child – I am baffled by the fact that we continue to repeat the same debate every time a new media platform arises. The iPhone is a content delivery tool just like any other: it affords good content just as well as bad content. For every Make Magazine of the world there are three Hustlers. For every Pixar gem there is a box-office full of Michael Bay blockbusters. When will we as a society finally be able to distinguish between platforms and content and stop asking the question: “Is insert new device good for insert sympathetic audience?”

This conversation calls to mind the age-old, but always spot on “Six Stages of Product Development”:

1. ENTHUSIASM
2. DISILLUSIONMENT
3. PANIC
4. SEARCH FOR THE GUILTY
5. PUNISHMENT FOR THE INNOCENT
6. PRAISE AND HONOR FOR THE NON-PARTICIPANTS

Looking back on the evolution of various digital media platforms like Video Games, the World Wide Web, and now Mobile Computing. I can’t help but wonder if there might be an equivalent, “Six Stages of Platform Adoption”:

1. UNBRIDLED EXPECTATIONS
2. UNIMAGINATIVE CONTENT MIGRATION
3. REALITY CHECK
4. EMPOWERMENT OF THE NAY-SAYERS
5. CREATIVE CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
6. PLATFORM MATURATION & VINDICATION OF THE VISIONARY

If so, this would put us somewhere between stages 2 and 5. Like computers and video games before it, the iPhone entered this world of Children’s Media carrying lofty expectations (Stage 1). Journalists, developers, and proud parents around the world sang its praises, vaulting the “my kid the iPhone wizard” video into the YouTube meme stratosphere alongside various cats on keyboards and Rick Astley.

Now, thanks to lots of bad game ports and shameless marketing ploys (Stage 2), parents are starting to question whether the platform is really the panacea it was purported to be (Stages 3 & 4).

Which brings us to Stage 4, which is very convenient for us here at Launchpad Toys as we’re just about to release our first iPad application, Toontastic, a creative learning tool that empowers kids to create and share their own animated cartoons through narrative play. Looking at the content available on the market today, I would agree with much of what the Times’ article contends. Most iPhone games/gimmicks do in fact impair kids’ creative development by limiting their input/control over what’s happening onscreen. Very few iPhone apps encourage good oral literacy skills or collaborative play, be it with friends or parents. And no, place-shifting non-interactive television content onto a portable screen doesn’t make it any more appropriate for a small child.

But here’s where the “Magical and Revolutionary” part comes in – for the first time in the history of Children’s Media, the limitation isn’t actually the platform, it’s developers’ lack of imagination. With its large capacitive multitouch screen, microphone, intuitive interface, and powerfully dynamic development platform, devices like the iPad enable developers like us to create Digital Play experiences that address all aforementioned concerns and more. With iOS, we can move beyond the traditional definition of games to create open-ended, creative, collaborative, and playful learning experiences that blend the benefits of traditional play patterns with all the captivating capabilities of digital media.

We at Launchpad Toys hope that this will finally get us over the hurdle of “is ___ good for kids?” and looking forwards to  “Imagine if…”