Almost half of the top 100-selling apps in the iTunes App Store were for preschool or elementary-aged children in November 2009, according to a content analysis by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, which promotes digital media technologies to advance children’s learning.
Expert Carly Shuler says the reason for this — assuming the majority of 3- to 10-year-olds don’t own their own phones — is because adults are taking advantage of the smartphone’s ability to act as a mobile learning or entertainment device for their children.
Shuler, a fellow at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center (part of the Sesame Workshop) calls this phenomenon the “pass-back” effect — as in parents passing their phones back to their bored kids.
Shortly after the iPhone came out, Shuler said she noticed children as young as 3 years old playing with the shiny devices.
“I saw it on the subway, at the grocery store — anywhere you’d see a parent and child interacting, really,” she said.
HALF of the 100 top selling apps are for #preschool and elementary aged kids?! Wow!