Look, My Baby Is Using an iPad! An Analysis of YouTube Videos of Infants and Toddlers Using Tablets

We know very little about the use of computers by children under the age of three. While few children in that age range used computers before the advent of smartphones and tablets, these devices have made computers much more accessible to infants and toddlers. In this paper, we provide a window into how these children are using tablets through an analysis of relevant YouTube videos. A majority of children aged 12 to 17 months in the videos in our dataset showed at least moderate ability to use the tablets. For children aged two, it was over 90 percent who displayed at least moderate ability. Our analysis also includes trends in interaction styles, child and device positioning, social aspects, and app genres. These findings point both to opportunities for research and starting points for design.

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