Why oh why are people giving their under 12s tablets?

My six year old gets given her homework and weekly spellings on an app. I said we don't do screen time and could we get given paper based work instead and everyone looked at me like some kind of freak.

Whole heartedly agree.
I always say it was the wolves or Disney who brought me up, I turned out fine. I have a highly energetic DC like unbelievably, everyone comments on it. I take my DC to softplay/swimming in the morning and the park/zoo/farm (so they can ride their bike, play on the climbing frame and then we play football) we are out twice a day come rain or shine between 4-8hrs. I give them a tablet to play games and watch Bluey whilst I clean up and cook. My DC is out more than any other child I know and super bright. We play games at home, read books but sometimes I give them a tablet which I'm in the same room monitoring to allow me to get things done without them climbing in the dishwasher/zooming around the house etc.

Eh, nope.

My oldest had an iPad from when he was 10, youngest used one from when she was about 6. They both spent lots of time playing outside and doing lots of other activities so having some time on an iPad was never an issue.

Primary school homework is on tablet. The maths homework rewards for time spent, you can do a limitless amount and it's awarded in assembly, so the more you do, the better...

Why is 'being able to use AI' seen as a skill? It is literally designed to become the default option for internet searches. It's quite surprising if most teenagers are unable to use computers or AI, given that most mainstream types seem to be making videos and posting to social media nonstop.

lol.

Google is your friend. There is loads of academic research highlighting that increasing technology is linked to higher depression and anxiety.
How do kids learn how to behave in a social situation and feel comfortable with it if they are zoned out? It's a skill you learn.

And I think it’s a shame that said breather = iPad. It’s so easy to shove an iPad at a child that they then become used to.
Would you seriously not prefer your child to be reading or drawing or doing a puzzle book or a Rubik’s cube or something than watching or playing on an iPad? But that requires some groundwork/effort early on for that to become a child’s norm.

DC1 is 14yo and she can use AI naively. She doesn't prompt properly. She does not know how to describe her questions properly to LLM, and then question its output. The prompt I could do vs hers is vastly different. For example, when she did her infographics on ChatGPT, it's not what I would accept at work. I showed her how to prompt to generate good infographics for her geography homework.

There is a difference.

I found most kids are computer illiterate. FYI, I'm a mddle aged software developer, and most kids, even the Y12/13 ones who came to my work place for work experience who are interested in software can barely use LLM or a computer. There only a few I've seen who are good at it.

If your kids love coding, like the ones I've seen at work experience, I don't know how good they are at command line and prompting Claude. They might be the rare ones who do it well.

I am generally with you but I think we need to separate out tablets in general from unregulated social media use/screen time. Very different a 12 year old using a tablet for homework versus a 5 year old using it to watch YouTube

As the parent of a child with ADHD I’m really fed up of the rise in rates being blamed on tablets/phone use. I’m so tired of arguing the point and just let people think what they want to. My child would still have ADHD if a) they had never seen a tablet or b) if they had spent loads of time on a tablet.

First I’ve heard of it and I’m in Scotland. Our school has to raise funds for equipment like this to be used in school, and there certainly isn’t one available for every child.

Same. Actually at first I thought ecstasy. It’s been a long weekend.

How novel. A thread about screens.
I posted on a similar thread the other day that heavy screen use is not that new for some people. My now 40 year old brother is a well adjusted, happily married dad with a very responsible job and he was pretty much a sonic addict before the age of ten. He must have spent at least 40% of his time awake as a teen playing WW2 games or watching films.
My ND late speaking child has had her greatest gains in speech and communication skills when using screens to support her.
If you are paranoid about tech and limiting this excessively, when will your child learn to cope in a world that requires aptitude with screens and tech to book medical appointments, use a modern tv, order in restaurants, pay for car parking, apply for jobs, manage bank accounts etc etc? These skills take time to learn and bed in. I'm noticing with my mother that the basic but useful tech skills she learned over the past decade or so are becoming beyond her as she moves into the 'elderly' stage of life. She rants about how difficult and rubbish the modern world is and needs help with online banking etc. An extreme example, but still.

Yeah I’m sure a parent who lets their child sit on an iPad for 15 hours a day is concerned about bath times and bedtime routines…

15 hours a day? I doubt it-That only leaves 9 hours for bath and sleep!

So why did Steve Jobs who was one of the inventors of the iPad and iPhone refuse to give his children one?
https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-steve-jobs-never-let-his-kids-use-ipad-apple-social-media-2017-3
Additionally about eight years ago I met a lovely gentleman from East Asia who had been flown in by an application developer because he was a psychologist who specialized in addiction. He was there to make the games and applications more addictive to anyone that played them. Dopamine hits and endorphins. I do have a medical background.
I was a bit shocked by that level of conniving.

Please do share your credible evidence regarding tech causing social anxieties
Or are you just making it up to prove a spurious point

TV is very different. It doesn't cause myopia for a start and it went off a certain time.

It really isn't great parenting to let a child have unrestrictive access to any device when they're little SEN or not (and one of mine does have SEN and her behavior is significantly worst if we do)

From my own experience, not all parents are ready to deal with the real life implications of sticking to their own strict rules around screens.

I am a parent who gives zero fucks, I will not bend to playground pressures. But I am not heartless. Kids, like my own, who have no access to YouTube, Roblox etc, often find themselves out of the loop. My eldest said that every week there is something new. My DC are quite confident, and they don't get upset if frozen out of conversations they have no clue about (for example, my DC still have no idea what Skibidi Toilet is about). But for some children, this would be unbearable daily pressure. Many parents will relax their rules, simply because they don't want their children to 'suffer'.

My 4yo dd is asking for one because her nursery use them 😫.
I find it so sad when you see little toddlers out a restaurant with headphones and tablets. How is teaching them how to behave in a social situation? They'll be ending up with social anxiety as adults.
It is lazy parenting

Well there are lots of reasons the kid might be using the iPad... it doesn't meant it is their own personal device.

Sometimes parents just need a breather from the relentlessness that is parenting small children.

We have one iPad in the house. DD1 does her TT Rockstars and Teams homework on it. She can’t access YouTube on it or age inappropriate content due to a VPN we have on it. She does play some age appropriate games on it from time to time, and is learning French on Duolingo. Roblox is banned in our house. We don’t limit screen time for our DDs as we don’t want it to be seen as something overly desirable (I appreciate this doesn’t work for everyone), but they are good at self regulating. They have barely given it a second glance this weekend, and instead have chosen to play out for hours with the neighbours’ kids.

Nope - kids can and do use AI - they also practice their hand writing, and possibly independent thinking and writing skills. They reality is kids homework is easy, give it to AI and it will be done in seconds, kids will learn nothing if all they do is cut and paste it in. My kids love computers and coding and homework booklets.