I believe the stigma against “iPad kids”, kids whose days depend on an iPad (or other electronic device), is extremely valid. I recall a time when I was facetiming my cousins, one who is 8 and the other is 3. The 3 year old had his full attention on a different phone in his hands that he took from his parents and would not even look my way when I would say his name. The 8 year old, his sister, told him that if he didn’t say hi to me then she’d take the phone away. He immediately put that phone down and ran to her to greet me on facetime, saying hi and asking me how am I. She told him “alright you can go back now” and he immediately went back. It was actually shocking to me that a child that young would be fake nice like that in order to keep his screen time.

Unfortunately, even the 8 year old is an iPad kid. However, many of the apps and games she spends her time on are educational. I do appreciate how many apps now make learning fun. To keep with this, I would design another educational app. It is nice for kids to have a variety of different learning games. It may seem contradictory to create another app when I just complained about kids being addicted to their screens but I was thinking of ways to incorporate hands on learning / off screen task in the app.

The app could be a game that’s a scavenger hunt, where the kid would have to go outside to find or do certain things to complete missions. An example could be something like “watch the sunset”, and there would have to be a video of a sunset for a certain amount of time. There are many complications behind this though, one of the biggest concern would be the software detecting a sunset. It would take a lot to develop but it would be a great push for kids to do things. Another resolution is that it could be “graded” by a parent or teacher. The adult could see that it is a sunset and consider that mission complete. Another example could be “find a pinecone”, but this brings up the fact that the app would have to consider the location of where it is being used (not everyone can easily find a pinecone, etc.). There also has to be something to keep kids from keeping up with the missions and coming back. This is when the games come in.

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