A Study on Smart Phone Use Condition of Infants and Toddlers

Abstract

This study investigated the smart phone use condition of infants and toddlers, and mothers’ perception of their children’s smart phone use, including the role of a mother’s parental efficacy in making difference in the smart phone use condition of infants and toddlers. Parents whose children go to childhood education institutes in D and I cities were selected as research subjects. The total number of the children was 500, and with collected data, frequency analysis and difference verification were carried out by using SPSS program. The results of study showed that infants and toddlers most frequently used smart phones at home with their mothers, and toddlers used smart phones more than infants did, and infants and toddlers used smart phones ‘less than 5 times a week’ , with average 1hours a day. Secondly, analysis of mothers’ perception of infants and toddlers’ smart phone use indicated that the need of their children was the most influential factor. And mothers who said their kids needed a smart phone considered it a useful learning tool, but others opposed smart phone use because of its negative effects on children’s physical and cognitive development. Among many programs, cartoon animation was most frequently used with smart phones, contrary to the infrequent use of educational contents. Thirdly, the difference in smart phone use condition according to parental efficacy of mother showed that there was a significant difference between the number of use and average use hours.