The average preschooler watches more than three hours of TV, film and other video programming each day 鈥� just one of many examples illustrating the huge role that entertainment plays in children鈥檚 lives.
But parents don鈥檛 need to fear their children playing with iPads and other devices, researchers say. Mindful play with an adult, combined with thoughtful design features, can prove beneficial to young developing minds.
New research shows that thoughtfully designed content that intentionally supports parent-child interactions facilitated the same kind of play and development as analog toys.
鈥淚 want to arm families with data to create consumer demand for thoughtful designs,鈥� said , an assistant professor in the 91探花鈥檚 Information School. Hiniker co-authored two papers on children鈥檚 interactions with devices that were discussed at , scheduled April 21 – 26, in Montreal, Canada, an academic conference that focuses on interactions between people and technology.
The research found that app designers have choices, Hiniker said. The designers have the power to hijack kids’ attention or to respect it, to create experiences that enhance daily life or disrupt it. And parents, through their purchasing power, have the ability to spur the industry to create better apps.
鈥淜ids are going to consume content,鈥� Hiniker said. 鈥淚f they鈥檙e going to consume content it should be high-quality.鈥�
In the first paper, 鈥�,鈥� the researchers demonstrated that when parents and children share play with a digital device, both parent and child are less engaged than when they play with a traditional, non-digital toy. That doesn鈥檛 necessarily make playing with the device a negative experience, said Hiniker.
But studies on how parents and children engage with both digital devices and traditional toys can help guide app developers and device makers.
The researchers recommended incorporating a role for parents when designing apps for children, such as:
- Easily permitting multiple users in apps
- Designing apps that can be interrupted
- Including specific roles for parents in the app
The content also should be presented in a way that allows children to make decisions on their own about whether to continue to play with the digital device or put the iPad down.
That was what the researchers had in mind when they created 鈥淐oco鈥檚 Videos,鈥� which they presented in their second CHI 2018 paper, 鈥�.鈥�
鈥淲e wanted a more rigorous understanding about what our kids experience with these apps,鈥� Hiniker said.
The research team designed the app 鈥淐oco鈥檚 Videos鈥� to see what pre-schoolers would do when presented with different options about watching online videos. The kids in their study were given iPads containing three different versions of an app that showed the kids a pre-planned playlist of videos from YouTube. One version would lock them out of watching future videos, allowing only one video per session. Another version simply prompted them to play another activity, encouraging the child to put down the player. A third version used auto-play to continue watching new videos. This allowed the researchers to observe how likely the kids were to put down the iPad during play, even when the videos continued uninterrupted.
鈥淲e demonstrated experimentally that you can systematically change the design of an app to undermine kids鈥� autonomy or to foster it,鈥� Hiniker said.
It鈥檚 not surprising that the pre-schoolers were overwhelmingly tempted to continue to watch when the video automatically kept serving up a new selection. Just like adults with services like Netflix or YouTube, the children stayed put to watch what was played next. The researchers also found that these auto-play features frustrated parents and gave the child fewer opportunities to decide on their own to put down the device.
鈥淥ne thing that came up a lot was how frustrating auto-play was,鈥� Hiniker said.
With auto-play, the child continued watching the video despite being prompted by the app to make plans for other kinds of playtime. It鈥檚 as if the app developer wanted to attract and hold the child鈥檚 attention indefinitely.
鈥淎s soon as the next one starts, it鈥檚 so much harder to stop,鈥� said co-author , an associate professor of human centered design and engineering at the UW.
As informed consumers, grownups can help improve apps for kids by making thoughtful purchase decisions and supporting apps that both educate and offer breaks. They should demand quality designs.
鈥淵ou have power as parents to request this,鈥� Kientz said. 鈥淰ote with your dollar.鈥�
Co-authors on 鈥淐oco鈥檚 Videos鈥� include Sharon S. Heung and Sungsoo (Ray) Hong of the 91探花Human Centered Design and Engineering department. Co-authors on 鈥淟et鈥檚 Play,鈥� include Jenny S. Radesky at the University of Michigan and Bongshin Lee of Microsoft.
The research was funded by the 91探花Royalty Research Fund and Microsoft.
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For more information, contact Hiniker at alexisr@uw.edu and Kientz at jkientz@uw.edu.