Exploring the Role of Digital Play in Child Development

Abstract

Mobile devices and applications (apps) have become staples of Western childhood, irrespective of socioeconomic status (SES). Despite widespread usage, research assessing the content and design of children’s apps is limited. Likewise, there is little research investigating how children of varying SES engage with apps, as well as how app usage relates to significant developmental capacities like executive functioning (EF). We examined if preschool-age children of varying SES differ in their daily duration of mobile device use, proportion of free apps installed, quantity of violent apps installed, and quality of educational apps played. We also examined how app design relates to child EF. SES included parents’ levels of education and an income-to-needs ratio (ITN), calculated through household income and size. We used Kruskal-Wallis tests, Chi-Square tests, Spearman correlations, and linear regression to examine associations between mobile device and app variables, parent education, and ITN. Parent education and preschool attendance were negatively associated with average daily duration of mobile device use. Increased average daily duration of mobile device use was associated with weaker EF in bivariate models, but did not maintain significance in linear regression models. Given the critical cognitive and social development occurring during the preschool years, disparate use of mobile devices may sustain the present digital divide, with cascading implications for inequitable school readiness and later academic achievement. Future research should further evaluate quality differences in mobile device and app use according to SES, continuing to use objective measures of the duration and types of apps played by children.