I woke up this morning to read a great write up from Mike Elgan, editor of Cult of Mac. Mike talks about the benefit of iPads versus TV for children from a Parent perspective and make some excellent points. I have extracted his bullet points here but I’d recomend you read the full article by checking out his blog.
- The iPad has far fewer, far less harmful ads than TV. It can even be rendered “commercial-free.” Imagine that.
- The iPad is interactive, for the most part, rather than passive. Instead of just staring motionless at TV, kids could be solving puzzles, actively playing games, typing, drawing and other activities.
- Parents can control iPad content. The App Store contains literally thousands of educational children’s books, games and other apps. By not sharing the iTunes password with children, parents can have total control over what’s on that iPad. By not connecting it to the Wi-Fi network, parents can easily prevent even Internet surfing.
- The iPad can be made age-appropriate. Who knows what kids are watching on TV in their bedrooms? It’s common for children to be attracted to programming for teens, and for teens to watch programming for adults.
- The iPad can be taken outside.
- The iPad can encourage the following of curiosity and discovery. By loading that sucker with a huge number of educational programs, kids can explore and search and discover what their interests really are, rather than being spoon-fed a celebrity-obsessed, shallow and limited set of interests by the commercial-driven TV industry.
- The iPad builds skills. By using an iPad, children can learn typing, multi-touch navigation, problem solving (with puzzles and games) and many other skills. Watching TV imparts zero valuable skills.
- The iPad can actually facilitate parenting. One example of many is a new app called “You Did It!,” which lets kids earn points for doing their chores.
