'Get off your screen, but also do your homework on this tablet', says confused parent

Niamh O'Reilly

WITH TWO UNDER-10s in the house who are hurtling toward tweenhood, I’m fighting what feels like a losing battle with screens. Every day, whether it’s a request to game for a bit, binge on Netflix or ask ChatGPT some random fact they need the answer to, I find that they are on screens or want to be online more than I’d like them to be.

Like most parents, I’m constantly bombarded about the ills of screen time on the young. One of the most recent statistics from one of the largest studies carried out on 2.8 million children across 64 countries concluded that elevated screen exposure could affect children in areas including academic achievement and emotional problems.

Setting screen time limits and pushing children toward offline activities is a constant parental task, but what makes this job a million times harder is the increasing appification of their education, where learning apps, introduced in the classroom, are being used at home. I’m frankly exhausted trying to keep up with the conflicting advice – don’t let young kids use screens, but also give them screens to do their schoolwork, it’s grand.

Unlike the parents with kids in secondary school, we’re not at the stage of having to shell out for expensive laptops or tablets for each child yet, but access to a device at home is still an assumed expectation.

For my youngest, we have been asked to download a reading app at home, which they do maybe once a week in school. At home, we occasionally open the app while we sit together, and as much as I was sceptical about it using it, I have to be honest, it’s a brilliant design. It’s bright, colourful and combines a bit of fun with being genuinely helpful for my son’s reading and spelling.

It’s easy to see why apps like this are popular and when used right, technology can complement traditional learning, even for the very young. In moderation, educational apps and online resources can be beneficial, and for children with additional needs, the use of devices and apps is sometimes essential.

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Still, as helpful as they are, I can’t help feeling like a massive hypocrite, essentially telling my son, “Oi, get off that screen, but also here’s a tablet so you can do your homework.”

Bring back analogue?

When I was in primary school, a million years ago as far as my own kids were concerned, there was a standalone computer room, and we got trotted in there once a week to do typing exercises or use MS Paint. It wasn’t the height of tech, and getting on the dial-up internet took an aeon. But we are living in different times now, where tech is king.

Even if we’re all secretly terrified that AI is going to do a Skynet and do us all in within the next decade, we can’t cut our young children off from the benefits of technology or leave them ignorant about it either. Like it or not, and as contradictory as it can feel when we’re discussing young children, being fluent in tech is no longer an optional add-on – it’s essential knowledge children need to get ahead in life, but also to arm themselves from the dangers the internet can pose.

But there’s a real question to be answered about just how educational some of these learning apps are. In the case of my nine-year-old, he regularly asks, “Mum, can I play that Cool Maths Games app on the tablet?” This is an app which was introduced to him via the classroom tablets, which again only get used maybe once a week. I usually agree as long as it’s only for 10/15 minutes max, happily assuming he is getting tricked into learning about maths while playing a fun game. Win, win, right? Only when I asked him more about it, he said there was no maths in the games at all; they were just fun games. True enough, when I sat down beside him and had a look, one of the games he was playing was essentially a Pong rip-off. 

So, are these learning apps all they are cracked up to be in terms of education? Is there enough inherent benefit to be had from letting children use them so young, when the result is driving them toward smart devices and screens earlier and earlier? Something we’re constantly told is dangerous to their development.

Addictive properties

These apps seem to vary widely in their educational content, with some having persuasive design features. Many feel all too similar to the more addictive parts of social media platforms or even gambling apps’ functions, which are designed to deliver maximum dopamine hits and repeated visits.

Some of these children’s learning apps have features such as telling the child they are on a streak they can’t break. Using leaderboards to keep them coming back, as well as points, coins, badges or chests they need to keep playing to open and get more rewards.

Many of them are also not free or require in-app purchases.

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According to a Queensland University of Technology report from earlier this year of 20 popular paid and free apps for children aged five to eight years, “most contained deceptive design patterns aimed at attracting children to paid content, increasing their time spent using the app, or encouraging them to watch advertisements for other products.”

Co-author of the study, Professor Johnson commented, “The most common techniques included the use of cute or familiar characters that encourage children towards a certain option such as paid content, requiring they watch ads to continue playing, or making other options hard to find.”

Another study found that educational apps with a higher educational value are less appealing to children and played less often. Recent OECD research commissioned by Ireland’s Department of Education on the impact of digital technologies on students’ learning found that giving children technology does not automatically improve learning. “The effectiveness depends on how the technology is used, the quality of the educational content, teacher competence and the purpose behind it.”

It’s not hard to see why parents are confused about the messaging in all of this, when schools are increasingly asking children to use apps and online platforms for homework and learning, while simultaneously being told to reduce their children’s screen time.

We know that almost 20% of Irish kids are using AI for schoolwork already. We don’t know how many are using educational apps to supplement their learning, but tech is here to stay. Ireland’s Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027 explicitly supports integrating digital technologies, including educational software, digital learning platforms and apps, into teaching, learning and assessment.

When it comes down to it, the real issue isn’t so much that children are using these apps, but rather how educational they really are?

Niamh O’Reilly is a freelance writer and journalist.