Screen Exposure: Mobile Devices and Child Development

Abstract

Today’s children are exposed to screened devices at an astronomically higher rate, both at home and school, than children of past generations are. As a result, educators and physicians alike have begun questioning positive and negative effects in the overall development of children. Today’s growing children are learning faster, with greater ease and more creatively then children in past generations. On the other hand, overexposure to screened devices has also proven to impede on adolescent development, comprehension ability, attention levels, communication skills, physical wellness and behavioral attitudes. In an attempt to educate, occupy and engage children, parents are utilizing various apps, games and learning tools screened devices today are offering, but at what potentially harmful outcome? With supporting evidence, recommendations have been presented to help parents and educators keep children safe from overexposure to screened devices, while still encouraging their use for their vast capabilities. Without safeguarding our children, what could we be exposing them to?

Key Words: Screened Device, Mobile Device, Overexposure, Child Development

Screen Exposure: Mobile Devices and Child Development

Ownership of mobile devices in the average U.S. household has increased from 20% in 2014 to 51% in 2016 (Sharkins, Newton, Albaiz, & Ernest, 2016). Likewise, the use of screened devices defined as computers, TV’s, application devices such as iPhones, iPads, iPods, and tablets and school based screen technology like interactive whiteboards (Zakrzewski, 2018), has increased three-fold by children and young people ages 5 to 15 years old during the same period, from 7% in 2014 to 23% in 2016 (Sharkins, Newton, Albaiz, & Ernest, 2016). In the same respect, Steinkuehler (2013) notes that Americans consume, on average, 13.6 hours of mobile device use per person each day. Additionally, recent national data indicates that 84% of households with children aged 6–17 years are exposed to device screens at an average of 50–80 minutes per day within the home setting (Zakrzewski, 2018).

It is in this world of increasing use of mobile devices, educators, physicians and parents are encountering a debate never fathomed before. The debate questions what positive and negative outcomes mobile device exposure is having on the development of young, learning minds. Educators, physicians and parents have been noticing a potential trend in increased mobile device exposure and both positive and negative long-term effects on children’s academic and overall development. Educators in the classroom, parents at home, and physicians during child well visits, see these long-term effects.

In the classroom, screen based activities have become a staple in classrooms as incentives for both good and poor behavior (Flewitt, 2015). Screened-based activities in schools have increased student’s literacy skills, spatial reasoning skills, aided student interaction through social media, increased accountability in the classroom and served as a positive incentive (Flewitt, 2015). On the other hand, more mobile device use is also negatively affecting children’s’ social development due to an increasing addiction to mobile device capabilities (Flewitt, 2015). In particular, children ages 5–14 are at highest risk for overdependence of mobile devices due to lack of time spent actively playing (Zakrzewski, 2018). Unfortunately, in addition to academic and social negative impacts, are children’s overall physical developmental impacts as well (Flewitt, 2015).

Steady increases in screen exposure, in addition to lessened amounts of active playtime, have also attributed to predetermined physical ailments in children. Such negative effects include increased high cholesterol and high blood pressure rates at young ages, poor posture, neck and back pain and restless inabilities in sleep patterns (Hale & Guan, 2015). Research has found that today’s children, particularly, ages four through seven who are exposed to more than two hours of screen exposure in a day having BMI’s higher than the 95th percentile (Anderson et al., 2017). In addition, the same children, ages four through seven, who obtain at least two hours of active play daily not only had average BMI’s, but steady sleep schedules (Anderson, 2017).

In an attempt to educate, occupy and engage children, through mobile devices, educators and parents alike are unknowingly exposing children to life-long positive and negative effects. While there are many ways children, academically, can positively grow from the capabilities of mobile devices, there is reason to believe overexposure to screens can have detrimental effects on children’s overall development. In support of today’s research, parents, educators and physicians need to learn how to safely expose children to the capabilities of mobile devices without overly exposing them. In light of this delicate need for balance, this paper’s purpose is to explore the positive impacts mobile device use has on children’s development compared to the negative impacts overexposure to mobile device use can cause.

Positive Impacts on Child Development and Mobile Device Use

Learners today are benefiting from the vast capabilities mobile devices are bringing to classrooms. The first screened technology to drastically change classroom instruction, the interactive whiteboard (IWB), came about nearly 10 years ago led by Shenton (2007), an experienced educator who currently serves as England’s Secretary of State for education. The interactive white board (IWB), is a large screened device that brings learning to both teachers’ and students’ fingertips (Shenton, 2007). Interactive whiteboards standalone as touchscreens used independently to perform tasks or they are connected by touchpads to control computers through a projector (Flewitt, 2015). The IWB opened doors in classrooms to multimodal texts and quickly became a motivator in student performance, allowing students to write, draw, create, slide and project their learning by their fingertip in seconds (Shenton, 2007). The use of IWB in U.S. classrooms has spread over the past several years due to their interactive nature and vast capabilities, opening the door to screened devices such as iPads, laptops, tablets and mobile devices in U.S. classrooms today (Shenton, 2007).

Screened devices such as iPads, laptops, tablets and mobile devices have introduced multi-modality to today’s classrooms. Multi-modality refers to presenting a piece of text in various formats excluding typical written text (Martin-Dorta, 2011). For example, in multimodal work, students not only read a written piece of text but also edit, manipulate and expand it on a mobile device (Martin-Dorta, 2011). Likewise, mobile devices allow students to listen to a piece of text read aloud to them and voice-to-text capabilities allow students to read a written text aloud while the mobile device types for them (Martin-Dorta, 2011). Mobile devices, such as iPads, provide learners the multimodality a single teacher cannot provide including their use of typefaces, colors, images and animations (Flewitt & Messer, 2015). They are allowing teachers to be creative, experiment with new tools and give control of learning to the students, which has ultimately increased student engagement and motivation levels (Lin, Cherng & Chen, 2016). According to Flewitt and Messer (2015), mobile devices strengthen phonological awareness, vocabulary learning, and reading comprehension and language skills, through various apps, websites and interactive education forums.

Applications (apps) are a vast and quickly growing source of learning for students. Apps are interactive portals, much like a website, that are designed for students to learn various concepts in the form of a game, project or task completion race (Flewitt & Messer, 2015). In 2016, an analysis test was conducted by Cadoret et al., (2016), to poll how many interactive apps were currently offered to all wireless mobile devices. At this time, a rounded 500 applications (apps) existed, 68% of which were reading focused (Cadoret et al., 2016). Such apps include Disney Story Central, Stack the States, and Winky Think Logic Puzzles, which help student’s phonological awareness, reading comprehension, decoding of words and fluency (Cadoret et al., 2016). The strengthening of these skills has helped teachers and parents introduce reading to children more so than in previous generations.

In addition to determining how many apps existed, the apps were utilized by a Routledge Research group (2016) seeking to determine what attracted children to them. Routledge Research group (2016) chose 10 employees, five of which are between ages 21–25 and five of which between ages 30–35 to utilize three of the found apps. Each of the 10 employees spent a collective three hours playing on the three chosen apps, one hour for each. The team graphed the number of apps, played or not, which are competition aligned versus not and concluded, 87% of the apps were competition or game based, allowing children to advance as they found success in learning, giving children an incentive to keep playing (Cadoret et al., 2016). This high percentage has heightened engagement and motivation levels in children’s use of mobile devices, which is presumably helping educators, excite students about mobile device use within their classrooms (Cadoret, 2016). With the increase in mobile screen device use, educators are also seeing spatial reasoning skills learned at faster speeds and with greater ease than ever before (Flewitt, 2015). Research supports the benefits mobile devices are providing young learners.

Students are developing spatial reasoning skills through the fine motor and quick movement patterns of mobile devices (Martin-Dorta, 2011). Spatial reasoning, a skill used heavily in engineering, technology and art fields, refers to the human brain’s ability to manipulate objects mentally in both two-and-three dimensional figures (Martin-Dorta, 2011). The use of mobile devices has allowed various aged students to use puzzle forums, shape-building software and workshop-based activities to incorporate spatial reasoning skills into their everyday life, both independently and within social situations (Martin-Dorta, 2011).

In addition, with mobile devices, children are learning systematic direction following skills at an astronomically higher rate than children have in past generations (Mesman et al., 2013). Children are figuring out how to access mobile devices and their various offered capabilities with very little instruction from adults. One such example seen today is the development of motor proficiency in young children. Cadoret (2016), a member of Canada’s International Education Studies Board and her team, conducted a study evaluating the relationship between overexposure to screens and motor proficiency in young children. During a five-week period, the researchers observed children, ages four through ten years old, within their classroom setting as they interacted with iPads within their math class, in addition they interviewed their families for a five-week period (Cadoret et al., 2016). While at school, the children were grouped into two categories; one group had two hours of screen exposure per day and the other group had less than 30 minutes of screen exposure per day (Cadoret et al., 2016). To ascertain the motor impacts of screen exposure on the children, the researchers measured the participating children’s motor skills, postural control, locomotion, and object manipulation (Cadoret et al., 2016). The researchers found that the group of children with greater screen exposure showed greater growth in their motor proficiency skills from beginning to end in contrast to the children who little screen exposure lacking motor proficiency skill development (Cadoret et al., 2016). Specifically, children ages four and five showed 47% growth in motor proficiency when compared to the four and five-year-old with little screen exposure (Cadoret et al., 2016). The study concluded there is benefit to screen time exposure for young children’s motor proficiency development, or fine motor skills, with both moderation and careful choice in which applications children are using and at what age (Cadoret et al., 2016). Children begin developing fine motor skills within the first weeks of their life, an important influence leading parents to introduce their children to mobile devices at a seemingly young age (Cadoret, et al., 2016). This early introduction to mobile devices transpires inot eager young learners headed to school with background knowledge teachers are able to utilize in their classrooms. In the same respect, the early introduction to mobile devices causes worries both parents and educators that mobile devices are negatively affecting children because they are not yet developmentally ready.

Today, teachers working with children as young as three are also using mobile devices as part of their early learning instruction (Cadoret, et al., 2016). This early integration of mobile device use has researchers concerned about the safety of young learners’ due to early overexposure. The repeated pattern of children’s early exposure has given today’s generation of learners the nickname, the net generation (Cadoret, et al., 2016). The term net generation or the digital natives, includes today’s learners ages 11 through 18 because of their strong ability to learn from screened devices (Flewitt, 2015). To accommodate these student strengths today, teachers are working to incorporate the use of screened devices within their instruction as often as possible. This drive for screen use has created the most recent educational push, one-to-one student use of technology, meaning each student learns most by use of a mobile device within the classroom (Ogelman et al., 2018). Mobile devices allow students to portray their work on several screens, collaborate with one another effectively, access helpful learning apps and thoroughly explain their work and thinking to their peers, not to mention preparing them for the technologically driven world we are quickly creating.

With the abundance of success, mobile devices are bringing education; it is not difficult to see how students, parents and teachers can become addicted to the awe of mobile devices. Educators and parents have learned children developmentally benefit with mobile devices. It is presumed with increased technology use in the future, children will continue to benefit in various ways academically, as well as, socially within their homes.

Negative Impacts on Child Development per Mobile Device Use

As a society, we have perfected the idea of overdoing things. We are able to overeat, overspend, overbuild and in many ways overexpose ourselves to various stimulants. The use and expansion of mobile devices is one such example that is slowly becoming cause for concern in today’s developing children. Screened device dependence is a racing epidemic in today’s world causing negative effects emotionally, socially, academically and psychologically in children of all ages, due to weakened developmental skills needed to live healthy lives (Mesman et al., 2013).

Physical Impacts. This dependence has resulted in the creation of recommendations per Jamapediatrics research regarding device use within healthy limits (Fakhouri-Ogden et al., 2013). Recent studies have concluded fewer than four in every ten children are currently meeting both physical and screen-time recommendations according to Jamapediatrics research (Fakhouri-Ogden et al., 2013). The first of two recommendations is that school-aged children should participate in 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily away from their devices (Fakhouri-Ogden et al., 2013). The second noted recommendation is that children ages two through fourteen years old should not be exposed to screened devices more than two hours each day (Fakhouri-Ogden et al., 2013). The coined term overexposure is used when children within this age range are being exposed to screens more than two hours daily, including both at school and at home. What is happening to our children physically if they are being overexposed to screened devices?

Due to number of children failing to meet physical activity recommendations, doctors’ biggest concern is increased average BMI’s among children under the age of 11. Among US children ages four to eleven, 16.9% had a BMI greater than the 95th percentile (obese), 15.7% of which also exceeded the two hour per day screen time exposure recommendation (Anderson-Must et al., 2008). Lastly, there are several additional impacts doctor are seeing in children overexposed to screened devices including lowered adiposity, more favorable lipid profiles, greater weight density, higher cholesterol levels, blood pressure and glycol-hemoglobin levels (Fakhouri et al., 2013). Research was conducted by BMC Public Health (2017) to support the claim that overexposure to mobile devices and lack of active play results in poorer health in young children.

Researchers working for BMC Public Health further pursued the potential correlation between decreased physical activity and increased use of screened devices (Anderson, et al., 2017). BMC Public Health (2017) developed a study to explore whether or not there is correlation between screen time exposure and active play. The study focused on parental involvement within homes to identify how parental supports may be the necessary factor in controlling children’s overexposure to screened devices. Twenty-one children, ages five through eleven, were placed into two focus groups that were analyzed using a deductive content analysis, as well as, interviews and observations in the home. This analysis tracked the number of hours per week each group of children used screened devices and the number of hours spent actively playing for three consecutive weeks (Anderson-Must, et al., 2017). Children exposed to screened devices more than two hours per day, had a 22% or greater BMI than those who did not exceed the two-hour daily goal. In addition, the children who participated in two or more hours of active play per day all had recorded average BMI levels and reported it was easy to stay off screened devices if they had an active game to play (Anderson-Must, et al., 2017). This was not the only conclusion the study yielded however; children who exceeded the two hours per day limit of screen use were also inadvertently exposed to excessive unhealthy food advertisements and screened device commercials, a factor BMC Public Health had not previously accounted for.

While BMC Public Health (2017) anticipated correlation between excessive screen exposure and increased BMI’s, they did not anticipate a second factor of overexposure to screened devices that was introduced in their study. At the conclusion of the study, researchers noted the overabundance of food advertisements children were exposed to while working with a screened device, potentially influencing their intake of energy dense, nutrient poor, snack foods and meals (Anderson-Must, et al., 2008). Such exposure to advertisements was not a concern for children playing actively rather than using screened devices. Statistically, BMC Public Health recorded the number of food advertisements casted during a two-hour period of TV watched. The conclusion stated in a two-hour period, while watching a family based channel, ABC Family, a rounded number of 35 food advertisements played (Anderson-Must, et al., 2008). Further, the team also tracked the number of commercials aired in the same two-hour time frame advertising screened devices including iPads, iPhones, TV’s, tablets and computers/laptops. In a two-hour window, between 11–14 commercials aired. Such commercials are placing wants in children’s heads for mobile devices they may not need or even developmentally be ready to use.

Responding to these findings, BMC Public Health suggests ways all adults can help protect children from overexposure to negatively influential commercials and screen time. Responding to these findings, BMC Public Health concluded two ways children ages five through eleven, not excluding all other age groups, can keep a healthy BMI is to minimize their screen time exposure to less than two hours per day and increase their active play time to at least two hours each day (Anderson-Must, et al., 2008).

Social Impacts. In addition to physically impacting children’s development, the overexposure to screened devices is also leading to negatively affected family and peer interactions for today’s children. Domingues-Montanari, 2017, implies the need for less screen use in households due to better help families communicate with one another. Statistically, one in every six families does not eat dinner together without any screened devices present at the table (Domingues-Montanari, 2017). Socially, families are no longer participating in sit-down family dinners, which can also lead to lack of social skill development, as previously mentioned.

Unfortunately, in addition to increased BMI’s and lessened time spent socializing with family, researchers have now also begun looking into how the overabundance of screened devices is affecting childhood depression rates. Twenge (2017), a professor in the psychology department at Florida State University, conducted a long-term study to see how screen time exposure potentially effects students’ depression and suicidal thoughts as they age. The study used several surveys given to randomly selected groups of eighth, tenth and twelfth grade students from various socioeconomically diverse regions of the United States (Twenge, et al., 2017). The students selected took identical surveys in eighth, tenth, and twelfth grade to compare how their thoughts changed as they aged. The surveys asked questions about interest, potential depressive symptoms, suicide, electronic device use, social media use, internet news, TV watching, homework, in-person social interaction, print media, sports/exercise, religion, jobs, demographic controls and economic factors (Twenge, et al., 2017). The students’ answers supported the research team’s projected outcomes; concluding students who spent more time on new media (screen devices and social media) were more likely to show depressive and suicidal tendencies. Interestingly enough, the majority of these students answered having increased negative thoughts as they aged, correlating with more time being spent exposed to screened devices. Lastly, students who participated more in non-screen activities experienced little to no depressive or suicidal thoughts. On a final note, teachers are noticing the decrease in social interaction among their students due to increased use of screened mobile devices.

Developmental Impacts. Another category of ways children are negatively affected by overexposure to screens is in their overall development as compared to age appropriate expectations. Developmentally, children exposed to excessive screen time fail to develop imagination, creativity and the ability to process problem solving skills and inductive reasoning skills (Cadoret et al., 2016). According to researchers, social skills are learned behavior patterns displayed in social situations. Today’s students are able to interact with mobile devices more so than other students face-to-face due to the decrease in social situations and increased use of mobile devices (Ogelman, et al., 2018). Children of all ages need opportunity to socialize with children their own age. Socialization is a life-long learning process, which begins, in the most crucial stage, childhood. Educators and parents need to work together in remembering how children develop the societal skills needed to live among one another. Children’s social development begins with interactions at home with their families. As children age, interactions and social play allow children to develop key skills needed to speak, understand, empathize and connect with those around them. These skills later help children become adults who serve as active members in our society (Ogelman, et al., 2018). If children are exposed more too screened devices than one another how will they develop such necessary social skills?

Adults, teachers and parents, need to set controls over mobile device use, to help children grow with one another, rather than just with a screen. In an attempt to support the need for constant social interaction among children, Ogelman (2018), conducted a study comparing the differences among groups of children pending how often they were exposed to mobile devices. The study was composed of 162 students in the Tavas district of Turkey, separated into two groups, to measure how their use of screened devices impeded their developing social skills (Ogelman, et al., 2018). Participating students were placed into two separate groups; one with no screen exposure and the other with unlimited screen exposure for a six-week period. The students were interviewed and observed to track how they interacted with one another, both within and cross groups, in differing settings including the classroom, playground, cafeteria and bus (Ogelman, et al., 2018). Following the six-week study period, the team of researchers made several conclusions.

Researchers concluded the children with greater amounts of watched television and use of portable computers/devices on weekdays, showed greater decrease in social interaction scores (Ogelman, et al., 2018). Furthermore, the research team concluded that children with the greatest use of hand-held smart phone devices had the weakest social skills when compared to other screened devices (Ogelman, et al., 2018). By way of observation and parental interview, the team also concluded adults must play the mediator role between children and the amount of time screened devices are used. This was ultimately concluded because the number of children allotted screen exposure time at a young age were the same children with poor social skills, beginning in the home with parent supervision (Ogelman, et al., 2018). Adults, teachers and parents, are able to take several forms of action to help children grow healthily with one another, rather than just with a screen.

Responsive Action to Negative Impacts Impeding Child Development

Research suggests there are ways in which parents, teachers and physicians can respond to the positive and negative findings from mobile device exposure. First, finding alternative activities to foster children’s imagination and creativity can help children develop and strengthen these skills without the constant use of mobile devices (Robinson & Borzekowski, 2006). Secondly, teaching positive self-advocacy skills can help children at home and in the classroom, self-determine when enough mobile device use is enough. Further, it can lead to children self-selecting non-mobile device activities throughout their day (Robinson &Borzekowski, 2006). Thirdly, educators and parents can motivate students through tangible behavior rewards and by setting daily goals of mobile device use (Robinson & Borzekowski, 2006). Psychological science states since 2014 the number of adolescents using social media has more than doubled beginning at an age as young as 12. This steady increase in time spent on mobile devices is accounting for the increases in depression and suicide rates the United States has recently seen (Twenge et al., 2017). Parents and teachers both are being encouraged to speak with students about these hot topic issues and encourage more physical activities and non-screen related entertainment as often as possible (Twenge et al., 2017).

On average, children ages 6–16 spend six hours each day in a school setting (Wahi-Birken, et al., 2011). Therefore it is imperative educators are aware of strategies they can implement in their classrooms to help children positively grow using mobile devices. Twenge (2017), suggests teachers can help students by continuing to use classroom practices that were used prior to mobile devices evolving, including paper assessments, face-to-face group work and hands on reward systems (Wahi-Birken, et al., 2011).

The integration of all technology screened or not, has been fast paced and successful in today’s growing world however, we as educators cannot forget the purpose of learning. While integrating mobile devices into the classroom, teachers need to teach students the concept of digital citizenship simultaneously. Digital citizenship refers to a person utilizing technology regularly or routinely with appropriate behavior and cause (Davis, 2017). Best practices of digital citizenship include helping students understand passwords, private information, personal information, photograph protection, property, permissions, professionalism and personal brands (Davis, 2017). Davis (2017), suggests the need for teachers to include lessons on these important components of using screened devices so students understand the dangers of others on the internet, as well as, how to appropriately interact with one another on social media. Lastly, in addition to digital citizenship lessons and best instructional practices, teachers are encouraged to place students in front of mobile devices no more than 30 minutes daily and ensure their homework does not always require a screen (Perri, 2016). These boundaries then transpire into the home where parents as well should set mobile device boundaries for children to control how much screen exposure they are receiving.

There are several ways, according to the research, in which parents can protect their children from overexposure to mobile devices such as setting time limits, providing hands-on and active play alternatives, creating screen-free zones where screened devices are not allowed and setting parental locks on websites and apps so children are not in control of their access (Hale & Guan, 2015). There is however the outlook on mobile devices only being used to benefit children through conversation. According to Steinkuehler (2016), there is a very real difference between a digital babysitter and enrichment parenting. Digital babysitting refers to parents placing their children on mindless mobile device apps as an occupier (Steinkuehler, 2016). However, Steinkuehler (2016) suggests a strategy called enrichment parenting which pair’s interaction and conversation with mobile device use. This response to time spent on mobile devices forces children to communicate, socialize and make real world sense of what they are doing on a mobile device app (Steinkuehler, 2016). Parents should first evaluate any app their child is using on a mobile device, become familiar with its purpose and talk about it with their child. This response allows parents the relaxed comfortability of placing their children on a mobile device to complete mundane household chores or work obligations while simultaneously utilizing their capabilities.

Lastly, there is always the preventative strategy of not purchasing mobile devices for children before they are of a developmentally appropriate age to have one (Totland-Andersen et al., 2013). Aside from educators and parents, the professional group that can help children safely grow in a world of so many mobile devices are our pediatric physicians.

Pediatric physicians see our growing children routinely in the first several years of their lives. Among many physical attributes they assess, research has repeatedly concluded active play should out way mobile device use every day. According to the medical research conducted by Dr. Torunn Totland (2013), children under the age of two should receive no mobile device exposure at all. Likewise, children ages two to fourteen should have no more than two hours of exposure per day. Lastly, children 14 years of age and older should not be exposed to more than four hours each day, collectively (Totland-Andersen et al., 2013). Physicians encourage following these limits, as well as, encourage all parents to have their children’s’ BMI’s and overall health checked yearly (Totland-Anderson et al., 2013). Lastly, many physicians today recommend parents begin taking their children for physiological evaluation annually, beginning on their 13th birthday to measure, as well as, help prevent depressive and suicidal thoughts (Totland-Andersen et al., 2013). While none of these strategies can ensure children will not see negative effects of overexposure to mobile devices, they are a step in the right direction in helping today’s generations grow up in such a technologically advancing world.

Conclusion

With technology in hand, today’s growing children are learning faster, with greater ease and more creatively then children in past generations. The increased exposure to screened devices that today’s children are experiencing has educators, parents and physicians questioning potential positive and negative long-term effects in their overall development. Educators are enthralled by the creativity, motivational components mobile devices, and their applications are bringing to today’s classrooms. Parents are intrigued and relieved by the occupying and rewarding nature mobile devices can provide children within the home. In an attempt to engage, entertain or educate children, adults may overly expose children to mobile devices without understanding the potential negative long-term effects.

Overexposure to mobile devices is causing today’s learners to be less social and suffer from greater health complications than previous generations of children (Anderson-Must, et al., 2008). Overexposure to mobile devices has proven to impede on adolescent development, comprehension ability, attention levels, communication skills, physical wellness and behavioral attitudes (Shenton, 2007; see also Cadoret, et al., 2016; Mesman, et al., 2013; Fakhouri-Ogden, et al., 2013; Anderson-Must, et al., 2017; Twenge, et al., 2017; Ogelman, et al., 2018; Steinkuehler, 2016).

In accordance to presented research, several recommendations have been made for educators and parents to help children grow positively with mobile device use. These recommendations include, but are not limited to, setting time limits, continued use of tangible teaching practices, enriched parenting by cooperatively using mobile device apps, annual physician visits and self-advocacy and digital citizenship lessons for all learners (Davis, 2017). In our advancing world, it is impossible to turn away from the vast capabilities mobile devices are creating; however, with beneficial responsive actions, educators and parents collectively can help children grow safely as learners, explorers and young members of our developing society.

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