I remember one time when my husband and I were still in the states, trying to meet up without constantly texting our locations. I think it was for a Renaissance Fair where we wanted the ability to move around with our different kids and not worry that we lost anyone. He asked if we could turn on the tracking function in Google Maps, a feature I didn’t even know was possible. It felt fine for that purpose, and as soon as that event was over, I turned it off.

I don’t hide much from my husband. If anything, I overshare about my day because I like talking to him and would rather focus on the big conversations when we see each other rather than the minutiae of the day. But I’d never, ever ask him to install a tracking app on his phone that tracks every single centimeter he travels. We have a very honest relationship, and I know I’ve surprised other spouses when I say he’s on a business trip but don’t know the hotel he’s staying at, and haven’t asked him for photographic proof of where he is and who he is with at all times.

I’d like to think that the same will apply to my kids. I thought about it a lot when I researched the smartwatch article in our November issue. I dug through a lot of research and was ready to submit the piece, then had this nagging feeling that I should check on the safety of using a smartwatch with GPS for your kids. That’s when I found this information:

As exciting as these smartwatches might seem as an alternative to younger kids owning a cell phone, parents must be sure to check the latest data and security findings for their products. In their 2010 paper “STALK: Security Analysis of Smartwatches for Kids,“ researchers at the Münster University of Applied Sciences in Germany found an incredible amount of vulnerabilities in many smartwatch security systems. Often hackers could listen in to conversations, track or change GPS coordinates, and even send text messages that looked like they came from a child’s parents in some cases.

My takeaway from this research is to not only perform my due diligence as a parent to find the right features for my child but also check out my top choices against studies like the one from Münster University. Don’t let a tool bought for safety turn into a security nightmare.

So you can imagine my hackles rising as I read about the app Zenly. The tracking is constant, and there have been horror stories of boyfriends and girlfriends freaking out about their significant others taking detours, or saying they’re on the way when they clearly aren’t.

But is it useful if you have kids? I thought back to my own childhood when I had to use a calling card or have spare change to use a payphone (yes, I’m that old). My parents were constantly frustrated that I wouldn’t make the call to say I would be late, and I don’t know why I had that particular block. So I asked them if smartphones were around when we were kids, would they have installed a tracking app for myself and my sister?

“If I couldn’t turn it off I wouldn’t. My kids would have hated it,” my mom Barbara Fulchino answered. “I believed in trust back then.” She’s right, we would have hated it. But we also weren’t the most well-behaved teenagers on the block, so I would have understood if she wanted to.

My dad Stephen Fulchino had both a trusting and a pragmatic view: “When you and your sister were 14 or 15, it would have been tempting. But I think it wouldn’t have been right. Also, if you delete the app, wouldn’t that turn it off?”

He’s right, we probably would have just uninstalled it or used the one option to pause it, the freezing function. Forget to unfreeze Zenly, however, and you may tell on yourself since you could physically be with someone but it says you’re still at school or work.

So as tempting as it would be to know where my kids are at every moment of the day, I think even when they’re older I won’t want to track them. For one thing, the more we communicate with each other about safety, like in online gaming, the more they show me how much they can be trusted.

What about you? Would you use a tracking app? Take our poll below and let us know!

KEEP READING: Calling all Girl Scouts (Leaders): Teach STEM and Make New Friends

Photos: Zenly app

For parents wishing to limit screen time for their children, it is becoming increasingly difficult with every new game or product launch. As challenging as it was before, complications and shutdowns occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic brought about an even greater reliance on smart technology, not only among adults but also for kids. While parents were telecommuting to work and attending Zoom conferences, schools around the world predominantly moved learning online. Even though kids in Beijing are back on campus, there are many more that are still caught in the distance learning loop, unable to unglue their eyes from their devices. And this techno-vortex has not only sucked kids into it, but has dragged parents in right along with them, as now parental feedback, and even parent-teacher conferences are performed online. Want to help your kid with their homework? Well, pull up a chair and turn on the computer screen!

This situation is bound to be a source of great alarm for parents who might pine nostalgically for bygone years when the worst thing that could happen to kids was watching too much TV. But the world is inextricably linked to technology and kids need to not only have a functional understanding of how these devices operate but also must become savants in their own right if they are to fit into this ever-changing, increasingly digitized world.

A survey conducted by Common Sense Media found that in the US alone 53% of children have their first smartphone by the age of 11, while tweens between eight to 12 years old were spending an average of five hours a day on their devices, with the average coming in at seven hours for teens. By the age of 17, at least 88% of teens have a smartphone. These statistics do not include desktop computers and laptops as these are considered ubiquitous in most households.

Nonetheless, these statistics could be alarming for a tech conscious parent who fears any negative effects that such early and extensive exposure to technology might have.

How Much Is Too Much?

On to the burning question. Is exposing children to technology, especially smartphones and computer screens, all that bad? We spoke to Dr. Elly Wong, a psychologist at Oasis International Hospital, to answer this and other key questions that parents might have. According to Dr. Wong, screen time might not be all that bad.

As she explains, “Recent studies indicate that learning can be more effective through games and play-based activities. If your child is watching high-quality television programming or educational apps, they’re likely experiencing interactive storytelling. This can also encourage learning processing to take place.” Furthermore, those dreaded video games most kids are obsessed with might not be the bane they initially appear to be, as they could encourage better hand-eye coordination and more, as beijingkids reported in our November issue.

Does this then mean that kids should be exposed to screens and other forms of tech as early as possible? Certainly sounds like it. But before you prop your six-month-old in front of a screen, Wong has a disclaimer for you. “According to the American Academy of Pediatrics: for zero-two years, screen time should be avoided. Try to keep your child engaged in activities that will help them reach physical and developmental markers. For two-five years, your child should limit their screen time to one hour of their day. This screen time should be used on high-quality, educational apps or children’s viewing programs. While for six-year-olds and above, limit screen time to two hours per day,” explains Dr. Wong.

Warning signs for screen addiction, according to Dr. Wong.

● If you have tried cutting back on their screen time and they were very resistant.

● If they are more interested in screen time than any other activities.

● If they only talk about things they see on their screens.

● If your child isn’t communicating and socializing because they want to bring a screen to every social gathering.

● If they get in a better mood when you allow them unlimited screen time.

● If they lie or try to deny their obsessive amount of screen time.

But My Child Is Different!

Some parents might find this conservative approach far too extreme, possibly offering personal anecdotes of their own children’s extended screen exposure and how relatively harmless it has been to the child. But therein lies the problem. Extended screen time could work insidiously to negatively affect your child’s overall psychological and even physical health, going so far as to affect their information acquisition capabilities. As Dr. Wong warns, “Too much screen time has been linked to poor social skills in children. One of the major skills children learn as they grow is how to communicate with others. The brain is wired to learn language from actively listening to adults (which doesn’t happen when the child is focused on a screen) and engaging in in-person interactions and conversations. When a child is looking at a screen, they aren’t looking at other people hence they are missing out on picking up nonverbal cues and learning how to read others’ faces.” And the negative effects don’t quite end there. “According to a recent study, increased screen time in young children is associated with negative health outcomes such as decreased cognitive ability, impaired language development, mood, and autistic-like behavior including hyperactivity, short attention span, and irritability,” explains Dr. Wong.

Children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) are particularly vulnerable. According to Dr. Wong, “Screen time — particularly the interactive kind — acts as a stimulant, and children with autism are often sensitive to stimulants of all kinds. Stimulants tend to make children with autism irritable, weepy, over-focused, more obsessive-compulsive, and unable to sleep.”

So how can parents ensure that screen time is an enriching experience?

What can parents do to help? Dr. Wong has some useful advice.

• Preview programs, games, and apps before allowing your child to view or play with them. Better yet, watch, play, or use them with your child.

• Seek out interactive options that engage your child, rather than those that just require pushing and swiping or staring at the screen.

• Use parental controls to block or filter internet content.

• Make sure your child is close by during screen time so that you can supervise his or her activities.

• Ask your child regularly what programs, games, and apps he or she has played with during the day.

• When watching programming with your child, discuss what you’re watching and educate him or her about advertising and commercials.

READ MORE: Weaning Kids Off Screen Time Post-COVID

Photos: Unsplash, Pexels

This article appeared in the beijingkids 2020 November issue

It never occurred to me to look into the damage that can be caused by simply watching more television than one should or spending too much time using multiple devices. Television has and will most likely continue to be a pastime that transcends all or most generations. The nature of television continues to evolve and adapt to the times in which we live; becoming more interactive by the year and keeping us all up to date with information pertaining to every whim popular culture decides is relevant to our lives, keeping our children entertained and enthralled and of course providing an electronic oasis of escapism for whoever needs or wants it.

Growing up with a little brother with special needs who was obsessed with Scooby Doo is what first brought my attention to a book entitled, Remotely Controlled. My brother was not only obsessed with watching this and other similarly paced cartoons, but it was his behavior during and after these colorful episodes that made me conscious about the harm they could be doing. A lot of my brothers’ obsession with cartoons had every bit to do with the need they met to not only provide entertainment but also function as a source of repetition that a child on the spectrum so craves.

We all have come to learn, of course, that the digital age and its many partners in crime; smartphones, tablets, and laptops – have made addicts of us. If the somewhat well-rounded, educated individual can become addicted to screen time what could be the potential impact on children and the more vulnerable among this group: children with learning challenges. While reading Remotely Controlled, I was provided with succinct answers to why my little brother behaved in certain ways and why many cartoons are produced in such a way that can lead to both short- and long-term effects on a child’s behavior; their interaction with others, their relationship with time, tasks, and language.

The need for constant stimulation, instant gratification, and the inability to handle complex problems that do not have quick solutions are all contributing factors spurred on by too much time with the small screen.

My brother would hurriedly try and repeat every word spoken within a segment of Scooby Doo while mimicking every exaggerated movement the animated pencil strokes made. His actions seemed erratic but it was purely a mirroring of what he was consuming. In turn more controlled and calming activities would go by the wayside and I could tell that his issues with speech and learning were only being exacerbated by his constant consumption of television.

To my surprise and elation (my concerns were given validation) Scooby Doo was actually given a mention and used as a prime example of cartoons that contain multiple jump-cut edits that can be cognitively harmful if watched repeatedly. A jump-cut edit basically results in transitions from scene to scene happening almost simultaneously. Conceptually, time breaks down into smaller, quicker, more instantaneous pockets of action. For example, Scooby and his gang could go from running through a deep forest to taking refuge in a cave within half a second. We miss what it takes to get the group of mystery busters through the forest and into the cave – we miss the journey.

Why is this important? Well, we must all learn patience; we must all learn to apply ourselves to tasks that will often take more than 60 seconds to achieve. We must all learn to enjoy longer-awaited forms of gratification. We must all learn to listen more than one should speak and of course always improve upon a very old art form – communication.  According to analytics company, Nielsen, 2-5-year-olds watch more than 32 hours of television a week, adversely affecting speech, behavior, and brain development. We all have the right to have our health and development prioritized over the mass consumption of something that has been proven to cause severe harm.

New Research at London’s Institute of Psychiatry concludes that attention deficit disorder (ADHD) is a real problem in children and that early exposure to television during critical periods of brain development (adolescence) can be associated with subsequent attentional problems. In Remotely Controlled, Psychologist Dr. Sigmund speaks on the importance of proposing the following when raising young children in the home and there are some extra tips thrown in for families who want to curb screen time!

• Limit television time to no more than an hour a day for 1-5 year-olds
• Make use of other play and past time activities. Replace the tablet with a book, board game, crafts, or a favorite toy
• If the television must have a home in your house, then make it the living area. No television in children’s bedrooms.
• Remove cellphones from children’s bedrooms at night and return them in the morning after breakfast
• Sit down as a family and discuss how you would all like to manage your screen time. Make a plan and stick to it!

Conversations with young children can be charming, annoying, or simply baffling. However, new research suggests that they are also essential. Researchers from Harvard University found a direct link between the development in children of the parts of the brain which deal with language and the number of conversations they have with adults.

It may seem obvious that talking to children helps them learn to talk, but there’s more to it. What was important, the researchers found, was turn-taking. In other words, this is not just about lecturing kids, or nodding and humming while they ramble on, but listening, responding, and encouraging them to listen and respond in return. It means getting down to their level physically, making eye contact, and really engaging with them.

It can be difficult, in our busy lives, to sit down and have a chat with kids when their interests and concerns might be so different from ours. One journalist from the Guardian, reporting on this news, described listening to his three-year-old as “like being caught in a feedback loop of all David Thewlis’s conspiracy theory rants from Naked, played simultaneously at full volume inside a metal dustbin.” Children are all different too. Some never seem to shut up, while others may prefer to sit in silence with a book.

However, there is an additional challenge which was not faced by previous generations: the prevalence of screens. Where a family might once have sat together over dinner and discussed their day, they may now all sit around each looking at their own phone or gadgets.

It can be easy to think, if kids are occupied and content, and are using “educational” apps, that everything is fine. However, as this new research demonstrates, no device can ever replace human interaction. In my days working in early years development, a speech therapist told me about an “epidemic” of language delay in the area. “But there’s not an epidemic of physiological problems,” she went on. “It’s down to parenting by screen.”

As in many areas of life, the challenges are greater for parents in Beijing’s international community. As well as the difficulty of finding time in this hectic metropolis, many of us rely on ayis to provide daycare; and however loving they are to their charges, they often have little English, and can’t provide that crucial conversation.

Sharing conversation with children is not just about brain development. It’s a matter of showing them respect, and earning their respect in turn. It’s a way of finding out what’s happening in their lives and in their minds, and heading off problems before they become serious. And it can be fun; kids often have a hilarious sense of humor.

So next time you’re sitting down to eat, put away your smartphone and ask your kids how their day has been. You might just be surprised at the results.

Photo: Adobe Creative Cloud

A report on a French school which has banned the use of mobile phones prompted debate among Beijing’s educators on how best to handle the issue.

A ban on children using phones in all France’s elementary and middle schools was promised in President Macron’s election campaign, and is due to be implemented in September 2018, but remains controversial. “How is the school going to stock them? And how are they going to make sure they’re given back to the owner at the end of school?” said Gérard Pommier, head of the Federation of Parents in State Schools.

The controversy may surprise anyone familiar with British schools. Although there are no laws or policies governing this issue, and it’s left to the discretion of individual head teachers, the use of phones is banned at the vast majority of schools in the UK, with the cardboard box full of confiscated phones a familiar sight.

The report in the Guardian newspaper about a school which implemented a ban four years ago would also seem to quell any concerns. There are few confiscations, no disciplinary or practical issues, and even the students seem happy with the situation. “When I’m with my friends I prefer a proper conversation,” a fifteen-year-old boy is reported as saying. “If you’re all standing around with phones, you talk about what’s on the screen rather than really listening to each other.”

Some Beijing schools though see phones and tablets as an opportunity rather than a threat. Electronics are viewed as an inescapable part of contemporary life, and are used to support learning and facilitate independent research. In one school they are used within the context of personal development: students are encouraged to monitor their use, and to note their feelings on picking up the device, in order to promote self-control.

Confiscation is the usual sanction for inappropriate use, although the value of phones for children’s safety was also noted. “Personally I am against keeping it any longer than the end of the day,” one teacher said. “Some of the students may walk home or be going home to an empty apartment. They need to have a way to reach their parents in case of emergency. I’m not going to be the one who took their phone away and then something happened and they really needed it.”

Another teacher though was adamant that kids and screens shouldn’t mix. “If I had my way, I would just chuck them out of the window,” she said. “Why not turn them off and do something less boring instead?”

Photo: Gulan Bolisay via Flickr

It’s time once again for breakfast at Taikoo Li: the Apple faithful will be lining up in front of the Sanlitun Apple Store and its three other retail outlets on October 17, as the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have been approved officially for sale in China and will go on sale then. 

The latest version of the groundbreaking smartphone arrives in Beijing 38 days after it went on sale in the US, Hong Kong, and other major markets. The China launch was delayed as the phone waited for regulatory approval from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and not, as some sources had suggested, anger over mobile service providers in China giving the game away early by offering iPhone pre-orders with official photos of both models prior to its launch on September 9.

The announcement of a release date will put a damper on smuggling of iPhones from the US and Hong Kong. Unlocked iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models have sold for as much as RMB 20,000. China Customs agents have been confiscating phones, including more than 800 in Shanghai. The basis for these confiscations is that travelers failed to declare goods of value purchased overseas, not because the phones were not officially available in China. 

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have racked up record sales, with 10 million sold in their first weekend of availability. Technology market research firm Gartner predicts the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will sell 10 million units per quarter in China. That’s a lot of phones. All three of China’s mobile carriers — China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom — will offer the new iPhone to their customers, as will Apple Stores throughout the country.

This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on October 1, 2014.

Photo: The Verge via the Beijinger

Jesper Lodahl is a serial entrepreneur who has been working on mobile internet and education in China for more than 12 years. His latest project, SmarTots, recently won the seed award at the Global Mobile Internet Conference (GMIC) and is also winning over parents, educators, and most importantly, children, with its innovative approach to education. Jennifer Thomé met up with Lodahl shortly after his success to learn about his inspiration for this project, and what he thinks the future of education will look like.

Read the entire interview on Agenda here.