We felt this way the first time we played with an iPad too, kid.
This might be baby's first brush with iPad euphoria, but it certainly won't be the last time he gets his hands on a tablet. As Hanna Rosin's recent Atlantic piece proclaimed, children between the ages of 0 and 5 today are the "touch screen generation." They can play Angry Birds (or, at least, Fruit Ninja) before they are out of diapers. And once they are ready for potty training, they can do so with an iPad-enhanced potty.
All of this is cute, and yes, the kids may be mimicking our own love affair with devices, but toddlers being raised with technology brings up concerns about child development that our parents never had to think about. Does a babyhood filled with swiping change our kids' brains? Should we apply the same rules that the AAP provides for TV time (none before the age of 2!) to tablet usage -- and do those guidelines even make practical sense? Rosemarie Truglio, senior vice president of education and research for Sesame Workshop, recommends that children spend no more than 1.5 to 2 hours in front of any screen each day. But more broadly, what is the right balance between being connected via technology and engaged with the world at large?
Plus, there is a looming question we've been grappling with for some time -- will this little boy one day see magazines as iPads that do not work?
Here are more babies enjoying their iPads via the Tumblr, BabiesWithiPads (natch).
