Babies Just 6 Months Old Play with Mobile Devices

It's not just teens and adults who are using smartphones. Scientists have found that more than one-third of babies are tapping on smartphones and tablets, even before they learn to walk and talk. In fact, by age one about one in seven toddlers is using devices for at least an hour a day.

Before now, scientists have known very little about when young children begin using mobile devices. To find out, the scientists developed a 20-item survey. The parents of children ages 6 months to 4 years who were at a hospital-0based pediatric clinic were then asked about what media devices they had in their household and the children's age at initial exposure to mobile media, frequency of use, types of activities and if their pediatrician had discussed media use with them.

So what did they find? It turns out that 97 percent of the parents surveyed had media devices. Not only that, but children younger than one year were exposed to these devices in large numbers; 52 percent had watched TV shows, 83 percent had touched or scrolled a screen, 24 percent had called someone, 15 percent used apps and 12 percent played video games. By 2 years, most children were using mobile devices.

"We didn't expect children were using the devices from the age of 6 months," said Hilda Kabali, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Some children were on the screen for as long as 30 minutes."

The findings reveal that mobile device use is widespread in children. With that said, scientists aren't sure exactly what impacts this may have on future child development.

The findings are published online.

For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).