Excerpts from our conversation with Dr. Jenny Radesky, an NIH-funded expert on kids and media use.
NIHNiH: How do kids interact with media on smartphones and tablets differently from how they watch television?
Radesky: The handheld design makes it harder for parents to watch things with their kids. Someone always wants to grab it and control it. In our lab, we’ve seen that when kids play with a tablet, they do a lot less interacting with their parents. They even move their body position in a way that walls off access for parents to watch what’s happening on the device….