Curbing kids' use of gadgets

Increasingly, parents are aware of the dangers tech gadgets pose to young children and struggle daily over their little ones' access to gizmos, including tablets, smartphones, computers and television.

So when The New York Times ran an article last week proclaiming "Steve Jobs was a low-tech parent", which was picked up by other media including The Straits Times, the story struck a chord.

The late Apple boss had admitted: "We limit how much technology our kids use at home."

There are no official guidelines in Singapore on the use of tech devices by children, but the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limiting screen time to no more than two hours a day for school-age children and teenagers, and to discourage it altogether for children younger than two.

Technology addiction can affect a child's sleep and interfere with his eating habits, news reports have said.

In April this year, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers in Britain warned that a rising number of nursery-age children can "swipe a screen" but they lack the motor skills needed to play with building blocks because of an "addiction" to tablets and smartphones.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has said that studies have shown that excessive media use can lead to attention problems, school difficulties, sleep and eating disorders and obesity.

It could be as much about balance and priorities as a question of the amount of time spent on gadgets.

Asked by parents to recommend time limits, Mr Poh Yeang Cherng, director and principal consultant for Kingmaker Consultancy, which deals with youth and technology, says: "It is better to focus on the ability of the child to create play."

If this is displaced by excessive gadget use, "it tunes them towards an environment of getting entertained all the time", he says.

Like Jobs, technology firm bigwigs SundayLife! spoke to also regulate their children's gadget use - except Mr Sherman Tan, chairman of gaming firm Asiasoft Online.

Apart from banning telephones at dinner, he says he has never placed any particular restrictions on gadget use for his three sons, now aged 27, 24 and 18.

"You cannot be too strict," he says. "I doubt Steve Jobs could control his children. You cannot tie your children's hands, they might go to their friends' homes to play games."

BONDING OVER GAMES

Allan Simonsen, 38, technical director and co-founder of Singapore-based casual games developer Boomzap. He and his homemaker wife have one child - Elisabeth, six.

"On weekends, Elisabeth spends one to two hours on a tech device, usually an iPad.

Sometimes, if she finishes her homework on weekdays, she might get half an hour's access to television or a tablet. I don't want her to be a couch potato, both with TV and gadgets.

For Chinese New Year last year, we made a game together, called Gong Xi Fa Cai, on the iPhone. Elisabeth did the art, including the characters of the Chinese zodiac, background music and sound effects.

She's beta-testing a game we are developing - it's cartoony and it's got skeletons, dragons and goblins.

She will click on things and complain if something doesn't work. As I am a game developer, it's a good way to see how people react to the game.

Part of what I get out of making games with my daughter is that we are doing it together. You don't want technology to replace the human bond.

Children have to learn to control their media consumption and creating digital media is part of it.

Consuming versus producing digital content is going to be one of the divides for the next generation."

PIANO AND BALLET INSTEAD

Mr Jimmy Fong, 48, chief executive officer and executive chairman of EpiCentre, and his wife, executive director at EpiCentre, have two children - twin daughters Ashley and Amerie, seven.

"My wife and I have password protection and parental controls in place.

Our daughters watch nothing on weekdays, not even television. On weekends, it could be up to two hours in total. They watch mainly cartoons and educational programmes.

When our daughters could pick up the iPhone and iPad, at around the age of two, they were totally engrossed.

I have seen children scream and throw tantrums if they don't get the gadgets they want. They make noise and run around, and giving them gadgets to play is the only way to keep them occupied.

Such gadgets are so easily addictive - once you open the can of worms, there's no turning back. Too much time spent on tech gadgets means sacrificing family, reading and playing time.

We want our children to read rather than to watch screens. We read to them every night, books such as abridged children's versions of Charles Dickens' A Tale Of Two Cities, David Copperfield and Oliver Twist, as well as Shakespeare, including Macbeth and Julius Caesar.

We also read fairy tales, comics, Chinese books and Bible stories. We read e-books and real books.

Our daughters take piano and ballet lessons. You need balanced development, including physical, spiritual and academic development."

ENJOY TACTILE FEEL OF REAL BOOKS

Ms Loo Pei Fen, 32, head of marketing for IT retail chain Challenger. She is a single mum and has two children - Kristy, six, and Ian, three.

"I run a fairly low-tech household and it shows in my own gadget collection. I use an iPhone and a Macbook Air - that's it.

My children watch only 15 minutes of television a day on weekdays.

Tablet usage is limited to under 30 minutes on weekends for my daughter.

My son does not use the tablet when he is with me. These boundaries are set more out of necessity than anything else.

Like most Singapore parents, I have little time after work with the children before their bedtime, which is usually before 9pm.

Limiting the use of tech devices lets me spend time interacting with them.

Activities such as swimming, drawing - which my daughter loves - reading or just going out, keep them occupied.

I like to be able to talk to my kids when we are doing stuff together. Having their eyes fixed on a screen makes that difficult.

I read to my children every night and it's always a real book - not an e-book. I hope I can influence them to grow up enjoying the tactile feel of turning the pages of real books."

CHILDREN SHOULD BE DIGITAL CREATORS TOO

Ms Jacqueline Poh (left), 39, managing director of Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. She and her civil servant husband have three children - Brian, 10, Isabelle, eight, and Brandon, four.

"It's not a right to be able to play with the tablet or smartphone. While there are a lot of educational games, unlimited play can lead to a sense of entitlement.

My husband and I impose limits on our children's gadget use via a system where they accumulate stars or points.

They need a certain number of stars to get half an hour to use the tablet or smartphone.

They earn these stars through a combination of good behaviour and doing homework.

We give the youngest a bit of leeway though. He 'wins' points if he demonstrates appropriate behaviour, for instance.

We don't want our children to get addicted to tech devices. If they go on the Internet, for example, on YouTube, they have to be supervised.

A lot of children use WhatsApp messaging and Facebook, and they have to be alert to avoid cyber-bullying.

My children are on WhatsApp and I can monitor what WhatsApp messages they send. They don't have their own smartphones.

Today's kids are digital natives. I think it's useful that they are active consumers of digital content, but parents should encourage their children to also be active creators of digital content, for example, by learning how to code.

Last year, I signed Isabelle and Brian for courses in Scratch, which introduces people to programming and coding. They have also attended Lego robotics courses."

This article was first published on Sep 22, 2014.
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