Ipad婴儿座椅引发对婴儿屏幕时间的关注

A newborn baby cannot hold or even swipe at an iPad, but Fisher-Price is providing a way to keep infants glued to the device.

The Newborn-to-Toddler Apptivity Seat for the iPad allows parents to strap a baby to the reclining bouncy chair and slip a tablet into an attached case that hovers several inches above the infant’s face.

The seat is chafing parents and child advocates who say the introduction of screen technology so early is harmful to the health and development of babies. Fisher-Price’s seat seems to hit a new low, they say, but other retailers also are promoting holiday gifts that integrate tech into baby gear, even a potty-training seat with an iPad stand.

Fisher-Price’s iPad seat is the “ultimate electronic babysitter, whose very existence suggests that it’s fine to leave babies as young as newborns all alone and with an iPad inches from their face,” said Susan Linn, director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), a child advocacy group.

The group on Tuesday launched a letter-writing campaign aimed at trying to persuade Mattel, the parent company of Fisher-Price, to stop selling the seat.

“Fisher-Price should stay true to its mission to foster learning and development by creating products for infants that promote, rather than undermine, interaction with caregivers,” Linn said.

Victor Strasburger, a doctor and professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, said attaching iPads to babies’ seats is “a terrible idea.”

“Does anyone out there think that kids need more screen time?” Strasburger asked. “There is no need to hurry to expose kids to new technology, certainly not babies — or newborns.”

Mattel did not respond to a request for comment on the iPad seat, but the company promotes the seat as a way to entertain and foster a baby’s physical development. Fisher-Price describes the product on its Web site as “a grow-with-me seat for baby that’s soothing, entertaining, and has a touch of technology, too.”

Mattel is already under pressure by the CCFC and other advocacy groups that have complained to the Federal Trade Commission that Fisher-Price’s mobile Apptivity suite of apps deceives consumers with promised educational benefits despite little research having been done to prove that online sites can help babies’ brain development.

Mattel encourages parents to download its iPad Apptivity apps, which it says “feature soft, soothing sounds and nature scenes, black-and-white images and high-contrast patterns that help develop eye-tracking skills.”

Other retailers have created similar products aimed at putting screen devices in front of children at the earliest ages.

CTA Digital’s 2-in-1 iPotty With Activity Seat for iPad allows babies and toddlers to tap away at a tablet positioned in front of a plastic potty-training bowl. The company, which makes accessories for tablets and video games, has a commissioned study on its site that touts the use of technology in child development, including potty training.

“Many young children already love playing with their parents’ iPad, and now they can safely do so with the iPotty,” CTA Digital says on its Web site. “It provides a fun and comfortable place to sit, while learning how to safely use the potty, playing apps, reading books or watching video clips.”

The Brooklyn-based company said that despite some criticism, it has seen a boom in sales of the iPotty. The toilet trainer was first introduced a year ago and has become the company’s second-most popular product aimed at babies and children.

“Most families have technology in the home, and the reality is that kids are exposed already, and parents are trying to find the best ways to adapt into their lives the technology in a way that is safe and thoughtful,” said Lois Eiler, marketing associate for CTA Digital. The company also sells an iRocking play seat with an attached feeding tray that can be replaced as an iPad holder.

The slew of new baby-tech products has drawn criticism from parents blasting CTA and Fisher-Price in Amazon.com’s customer-review sections. Fisher-Price’s seat had more than 100 reviews, many negative.

“If you want to damage your child’s development, buy this chair,” one reviewer wrote. “Children of a very young age are genetically programmed to respond positively to interacting with PEOPLE. Even if they are just watching the world go by. This is a horrible gadget.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages screen time for children younger than 2, including mobile technology. As companies rush to integrate technology into toys, baby gear and classrooms, doctors and child advocates say children are immersed more than ever in a world of screens. That constant access to games, television and the Internet may be taking away from family time, exercise and discovery in the physical world, critics say.

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新生儿拿不住，甚至无法刷一台iPad，但是费雪牌座椅把iPad固定起来，为婴儿提供了使用iPad的方法。

这种为新生儿到幼儿设计的iPad应用配件座椅，可以让父母将孩子固定在一个斜倚的充气座椅上，将平板固定在婴儿的脸几英寸前。

很多焦躁的父母和儿童拥护者都认为过早的让孩子接触屏幕科技产品对于孩子的健康和成长有害。据说，费雪牌座位似乎又创新低，但是，其他零售商也正在将集成科技应用到婴儿用品中，甚至是一个带有ipad的坐便训练器。

儿童拥护团体CCFC的执行官苏珊林恩说，费雪牌的iPad座椅是终极电子保姆，它的存在意味着让像新生儿年纪的婴儿独自和脸前几英尺的iPad待着是可行的。

周二，该集团举行了书信写作活动，意在试图说服美泰，费雪牌母公司，停止销售此座位。

林恩说，费雪公司应该忠于自己用创新产品来促进学习和发展，提高和抚养人的交流而不是阻碍它。

新墨西哥大学儿科教授维克多•斯特拉斯伯格认为这种iPad婴儿座椅是一个“坏主意”。

斯特拉斯伯格问，“有人会认为孩子需要更多的屏幕时间么？我认为根本没有必要让孩子过早的接触高科技，尤其是婴儿或者新生儿。”

美泰公司并没有回应这些评论，而是将这个座椅设计成一个娱乐并促进孩子物理发展的设备。费雪公司在网站上描述此产品为“一个伴随成长的安慰的，娱乐的触感科技产物”。

美泰公司已经备受CCFC和其他倡导团体的压力，那些团体抱怨向联邦贸易委员会抱怨说费雪公司的手机应用软件承诺有教育性作用来欺骗消费者，而几乎没有测试出在线网站有利于孩子的大脑发育。

美泰公司鼓励父母下载iPad应用程序，被称为“特性舒适，音质舒缓，感觉自然，黑白影像和高对比模式来帮助提高眼球追踪技术”。

其他零售商也已经针对儿童使用创造了类似的产品。

CTA数字与活动的二合一iPotty座位专为婴儿和幼童发明的，可以让他们在塑料的座便盆前面使用平板电脑。为平板电脑和游戏机做了很多附件的公司，在它的网站上开始研究科技的使用是否对儿童发展有帮助，包括座便训练。

CTA数字公司在其网站上说，“现在，已经有很多年轻的孩子喜欢玩父母的iPad了，所以他们可以安全的和iPotty一起玩耍，它提供了一个舒适又有趣的座位，一边学习如何安全的使用座便，一边玩应用，看书和看视频。”

布鲁克林分公司认为，除了一些批评家外，iPotty的销量已经很有影响力了。座便训练器在一年前出现，现在已经变成公司针对幼儿和儿童的第二受欢迎的产品。

CTA数字公司的市场助理路易斯•艾勒说，“大部分家庭已经拥有科技产品了，现实是儿童已经开始接触它们，父母正在努力找到最好的方法来使科技产品更好的以安全和贴心的方式融入他们的生活”。公司还销售iRocking玩具座位附带一个喂养托盘,也可以更换成一个iPad支撑器。

大批的新生儿科技产品已经引起了父母在亚马逊网站上顾客评论上的一阵批评。费雪公司的座位有100多个评论，大部分是负面的。

其中一个评论人写道，“如果你想阻碍孩子的发展，买这把椅子吧。从遗传学角度来看，年龄小的孩子是会系统的在与人交流时表现出积极性。即使他们是在看着这个世界。这是个很糟糕的产品。”

美国儿科学会不建议2岁以下儿童有屏幕时间，包括手机。批评者认为，随着公司开始将科技和玩具，婴儿用品和教室结合起来，医生和孩子倡议者认为孩子被屏幕世界包围了。一直接触游戏，电视和互联网会让孩子们远离家庭，锻炼和物理世界的探索。