Child of technology
We have a house electronic thermostat that Michael loves to play with. It has an LED display that shows the current and target temperature, and buttons to set modes and increase/decrease the target temperature.
I've observed that Michael keeps poking and tapping the LED display, and I could never figure out why. I had always assumed he was just too young to understand that didn't do anything.
This evening, he got ahold of Grandma's cell phone. It's a Samsung candybar/slider phone with regular dial buttons. Once again, Michael was poking and tapping the screen. I thought he just couldn't figure out how to use it.
Grandma wanted to make a call, so I traded Michael for my iPhone. He's played with my iPhone a few times under careful supervision. We have an app called "Baby Piano" that has croaking frogs and crowing chickens that make noise when you hit the corresponding key. Adorable game!
Well, he got ahold of the iPhone and started poking and tapping again, and this time I notice he's moving icons around and starting applications.
That's when it finally dawned ... having been exposed to the iPhone touchscreen at such a young age, he thinks all electronic devices are touchscreen interface. That's why he pokes and taps the LED display on the house electric thermostat, other phones, and any sort of digital monitor or LED display. Touchscreen is pretty much the interface he knows, and expects all electronic devices to work that way.
He's so funny, when he gets a cell phone, he pokes and taps at the screen and then puts it up to his ear and marches around the house, like a little boss.
I've observed that Michael keeps poking and tapping the LED display, and I could never figure out why. I had always assumed he was just too young to understand that didn't do anything.
This evening, he got ahold of Grandma's cell phone. It's a Samsung candybar/slider phone with regular dial buttons. Once again, Michael was poking and tapping the screen. I thought he just couldn't figure out how to use it.
Grandma wanted to make a call, so I traded Michael for my iPhone. He's played with my iPhone a few times under careful supervision. We have an app called "Baby Piano" that has croaking frogs and crowing chickens that make noise when you hit the corresponding key. Adorable game!
Well, he got ahold of the iPhone and started poking and tapping again, and this time I notice he's moving icons around and starting applications.
That's when it finally dawned ... having been exposed to the iPhone touchscreen at such a young age, he thinks all electronic devices are touchscreen interface. That's why he pokes and taps the LED display on the house electric thermostat, other phones, and any sort of digital monitor or LED display. Touchscreen is pretty much the interface he knows, and expects all electronic devices to work that way.
He's so funny, when he gets a cell phone, he pokes and taps at the screen and then puts it up to his ear and marches around the house, like a little boss.
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