Kids Say the Most Digital Things: Devices
You’re sitting at your favorite restaurant and a toddler begins to cry. The parents reach for their bag, and out comes a smartphone or tablet.
Magically, the child calms down.
You look away and continue eating. Then, something catches your eye. That same kid manages to unlock the device, find the YouTube app and play the “Let It Go” video for the 257th time.
This parental tactic has become common during the last few years and has caught the attention of media outlets andorganizations.
It also piqued our interest at Vimarc, so we decided to create an eight-question survey and hand it to local third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students — 30 total. We targeted this age group (8-11) because we wanted to know how much technology they come across on a daily basis (the same children who participated in our social media survey last month).
We admit these tests lack scientific research, but the answers are interesting nonetheless. For example, the first page asked the students to match the following devices with a corresponding photo: Samsung Galaxy phone, PC Tablet/Laptop, PC Laptop, MacBook, LG G3 phone, iPhone, iPad, Kindle tablet, and Amazon Fire tablet.
Two children amazingly scored a 100 percent on the first page (see attached photo), while the remaining 28 weren’t too far behind.
Other trends we noticed were …
A majority of respondents said they recently received their first mp3 player, smartphone or tablet. One student said he received his first device at age 6.
A large percentage of students said having a phone or tablet at school makes you look “cool.”
The consensus favorite app is Talking Tom Cat with YouTube a close second.
Wearable devices — such as Google Glass and SmartWatches — are still foreign to this age group.
Here are some of our favorite unedited answers …
Parents: Do you let your children own or play with a smartphone or tablet? If so, what limitations do you impose? Share your stories with us via email and/or social media!
