This Is Sooo Wrong. The Rise of the "Techno Tot"

Steve Jobs didn't let his own kids have iPads. Plenty of other parents don't have Steve's reservations or his insights.

Psychologist Sue Palmer says that parents are using iPads as babysitters, even pacifiers, and their children are paying the price.

Along with colleagues in the field of child development, I'd seen a rise in prescriptions for Ritalin, a drug for attention deficit and hyperactivity - a four-fold increase in less than a decade. And we'd collected a mass of research showing links between excessive screen-time and obesity, sleep disorders, aggression, poor social skills, depression and academic under-achievement.


It's little wonder, then, that the boom in iPads and smartphones has coincided with further deterioration in the physical and mental health of children of all ages. Sadly, we're seeing the rise of the 'techno-tot' for whom iPads have become the modern-day equivalent of a comfort blanket.


Recent research found 10 per cent of children under four are put to bed with a tablet computer to play with as they fall asleep. One study of families owning them found a third of children under three had their own tablets. Baby shops even sell 'apptivity seats' into which a tablet can be slotted to keep toddlers entertained.

...It's not just what children get up to onscreen that affects their overall development. It's what screens displace - all the activities they're not doing in the real world. Today's children have far fewer opportunities for what I call 'real play'. They are no longer learning through first-hand experiences how to be human and are much less likely to play or socialize outdoors or with others.


...Real play gives children opportunities to learn how to cope with challenges for themselves. Finding how to learn from their mistakes, picking themselves up when they take a tumble and sorting out squabbles with playmates all help develop the self-confidence that makes children more emotionally resilient.


This is vital for mental health, especially in our high-pressure world. So I wasn't surprised when this month Childline warned Britain is producing deeply unhappy youngsters - sad, lonely, with low self-esteem and an increasing predilection to self-harm. The charity painted a bleak portrait of our children's emotional state, blaming their unhappiness on social networking and cyber-bullying.

Fight Climate Change - Do It For the Kids

One reason that getting meaningful Canadian public support to fight climate change is so hard is that it's not killing our kids - yet. But it is killing other peoples' kids and soon it'll be killing a lot more of them. Save the Children Canada has just released a report entitled Feeling the Heat, Child Survival in a Changing Climate.

It's not a pleasant read but don't let that put you off. It's only 31 pages long, about 24 pages of actual text.

You really should read the Save the Children report because next month the big and powerful nations will be writing the fate of millions of children in the poorest and most vulnerable countries in our world.

This report should be mandatory reading for every political reprobate who casts Canada as a fossil fuel energy superpower for the 21st century.

Afghanistan's Child Soldiers

Afghan boys are being pressed into service with the Afghan National Police, various militias and, of course, the Taliban.

A report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs states that these young boys routinely suffer physical and sexual abuse.

Abdul Qader Noorzai, head of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) in Kandahar Province said, "Children are used for different purposes. The majority of them experience sexual abuse, others do all kinds of jobs such as cooking, cleaning, day patrols and even fighting."

In Kandahar Province, Canada's bailiwick, it's estimated that some 200 boys under 18 are serving with the Afghan National Police and the police auxiliary.

Under-age males have also been seen working for private security companies, particularly in Kandahar and Helmand provinces, said a senior government official who insisted on anonymity.

"The auxiliary police and private security contractors widely use child soldiers while the government and the AIHRC do not have the capacity to monitor, investigate and stop them," the official said.

Afghan officials also accuse the Taliban and other anti-government elements of deliberately using children for various military and illegitimate purposes. The Taliban use boys as foot soldiers and force children to engage in violent acts, they say.

Over 7,500 child soldiers went through Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programmes between April 2003 and June 2006 under Afghanistan's post-Taliban peace building arrangements, according to the UN.