Exploring work practices for scientifically-informed pre-school app creation: a case study in attentional control.
Lead Research Organisation:
Birkbeck, University of London
Department Name: Psychological Sciences
Abstract
Rationale and Research Questions
Audio-visual (AV) media such as movies, TV and apps, permeate modern life. Since the advent of touchscreen devices (e.g. smartphones and tablets), all of us -including very young children- have the ability to seek information and entertainment throughout our waking lives. Family ownership of touchscreen devices increased from 7% in 2011 to 71% in 2014, with 11% of 3-year-olds owning a tablet1 and first exposure to a touchscreen occurring within the first year of life2. Combined with up to 8 hours/day of TV exposure reported by families of young children3, screen time for many UK families constitutes more of a child's waking life than reading, engaging in social interaction or outdoor physical activity. Understandably, how such devices impact a child's developing brain is a pressing question for parents, scientists and other early-years stakeholders (e.g. paediatricians, social workers, pre-school teachers, media producers). The popular media is awash with claims that AV media are creating a generation with increasing rates of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD4) and antisocial behaviour5,6. However, these fears are not based on any empirical evidence linking early touchscreen use with long-term developmental problems.
Meanwhile, the commercial market for pre-school app development is huge with the 'Kids 5 & under' category being one of the largest on the Apple App Store. The UK is one of the leaders in digital content and technology creation for pre-schoolers (e.g. CBeebies, MadeInMe, Hopster) and developers are constantly struggling with how to reconcile the apparent success of their apps with children and families with the recommendations of official bodies like the American Academy for Pediatrics (AAP) to discourage, strongly limit or moderate screen time for pre-school children7. App developers often claim to have based their content on educational and developmental theories and findings but how they do this and what the work practices are that allow this are unclear8. Even companies who make these practices clear (such as Hopster's in-house educational practitioner) may struggle to know what the scientific evidence suggests they do in terms of particular aspects of development (such as language learning, memory or attention) as the scientific literature is confusing. For example, lab studies have demonstrated a short-term impact of a fast-paced kid's TV program on attentional control in 4 and 6 year olds9,10 and other studies have shown that this cognitive ability to filter out irrelevant sensory information has been strongly associated with lifetime intellectual, behavioural and educational attainment11,12 but the direct association of screen time and such long-term consequences has not been shown. Also, passive TV consumption requires a lot less active involvement of the user compared to app use on a touchscreen device, potentially leading to very different impacts on cognitive development. In our recent Toddler Attentional Behaviours and LEarning through Touchscreens (TABLET) project we demonstrated that active touchscreen use by toddlers was associated with advanced real-world fine-motor development13 and may also act as a protective factor against child temperament problems (including self-regulation; a behaviour related to attentional control14). Preliminary electroencephalology (EEG) evidence from the TABLET project also suggest that at 18 months, toddlers who use touchscreens on a daily basis exhibit brain activity related to better attentional control. The current scientific evidence is clearly painting a confusing picture of how touchscreen use may impact the development of attentional control and this makes it very difficult for app developers who are on the frontline of this debate to design their experiences in the most developmental constructive way.
Audio-visual (AV) media such as movies, TV and apps, permeate modern life. Since the advent of touchscreen devices (e.g. smartphones and tablets), all of us -including very young children- have the ability to seek information and entertainment throughout our waking lives. Family ownership of touchscreen devices increased from 7% in 2011 to 71% in 2014, with 11% of 3-year-olds owning a tablet1 and first exposure to a touchscreen occurring within the first year of life2. Combined with up to 8 hours/day of TV exposure reported by families of young children3, screen time for many UK families constitutes more of a child's waking life than reading, engaging in social interaction or outdoor physical activity. Understandably, how such devices impact a child's developing brain is a pressing question for parents, scientists and other early-years stakeholders (e.g. paediatricians, social workers, pre-school teachers, media producers). The popular media is awash with claims that AV media are creating a generation with increasing rates of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD4) and antisocial behaviour5,6. However, these fears are not based on any empirical evidence linking early touchscreen use with long-term developmental problems.
Meanwhile, the commercial market for pre-school app development is huge with the 'Kids 5 & under' category being one of the largest on the Apple App Store. The UK is one of the leaders in digital content and technology creation for pre-schoolers (e.g. CBeebies, MadeInMe, Hopster) and developers are constantly struggling with how to reconcile the apparent success of their apps with children and families with the recommendations of official bodies like the American Academy for Pediatrics (AAP) to discourage, strongly limit or moderate screen time for pre-school children7. App developers often claim to have based their content on educational and developmental theories and findings but how they do this and what the work practices are that allow this are unclear8. Even companies who make these practices clear (such as Hopster's in-house educational practitioner) may struggle to know what the scientific evidence suggests they do in terms of particular aspects of development (such as language learning, memory or attention) as the scientific literature is confusing. For example, lab studies have demonstrated a short-term impact of a fast-paced kid's TV program on attentional control in 4 and 6 year olds9,10 and other studies have shown that this cognitive ability to filter out irrelevant sensory information has been strongly associated with lifetime intellectual, behavioural and educational attainment11,12 but the direct association of screen time and such long-term consequences has not been shown. Also, passive TV consumption requires a lot less active involvement of the user compared to app use on a touchscreen device, potentially leading to very different impacts on cognitive development. In our recent Toddler Attentional Behaviours and LEarning through Touchscreens (TABLET) project we demonstrated that active touchscreen use by toddlers was associated with advanced real-world fine-motor development13 and may also act as a protective factor against child temperament problems (including self-regulation; a behaviour related to attentional control14). Preliminary electroencephalology (EEG) evidence from the TABLET project also suggest that at 18 months, toddlers who use touchscreens on a daily basis exhibit brain activity related to better attentional control. The current scientific evidence is clearly painting a confusing picture of how touchscreen use may impact the development of attentional control and this makes it very difficult for app developers who are on the frontline of this debate to design their experiences in the most developmental constructive way.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Tim Smith (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Claire Essex (Student) |