For millions of years, In millions of homes

A man loved a woman, A child it was born

It learned how to hurt and it learned how to cry

Like Humans Do

Byrne [1]

1 Introduction

The number of people using smartphones has steadily increased in the last two decades. People use smartphones for communication and other purposes, and many of them carry smartphones always with them. As a result, children now get exposed to smartphones since their early months in life [2]. Children can hold smartphones firmly in their hands at around two years of age [3] and before that they are passive users of smartphones, i.e., they listen to music and watch videos played on smartphones [2]. Beginning at around two years of age, children gradually learn to operate smartphones and they use different types of apps as they grow up [4]. Smartphones are popular among children [5] because of their small size, elegant design, mobility and multimedia support. Smartphones are now used extensively by children [6] and often become ubiquitous in their life [7]. Although a large number of apps are now available for children, a significant proportion of those apps have content and user interfaces that are not suitable for children [8]. We believe that it is important to research child–smartphone interaction, i.e., how children interact with smartphones, and what are the effects of the same on children. A few literature surveys detailing the positive effects, like the one by Griffith et al. [9], and the negative effects, like the one by Lissak [10], of using smartphones by children have been published recently. We attempt to summarize the work done so far to understand children’s ability to use smartphones and provide a balanced review of the effects of using smartphones on children.

Child–smartphone interaction is closely related to the more established field of child–computer interaction. However, there are many differences in why and how children use computers and smartphones. Child–smartphone interaction also borrows profusely from the field of media use by children. However, smartphones are more versatile and interactive than other forms of screen media. Consequently, many concepts, but not all, of child–computer interaction and media use by children are applicable to child–smartphone interaction.

Several researchers have studied the use of smartphones by children with disabilities and children at risk. We think that the use of smartphones by such children needs to be studied more intensively and have not included such studies in this review.

Child–smartphone interaction is studied by a wide spectrum of people including pediatricians, developmental psychologists, human–computer interaction experts and educational technology enthusiasts as evident from the list of papers included in this review. The human–computer interaction researchers typically study how children in different age groups interact with smartphones and what features of the same they can use. The pediatricians and developmental psychologists study the physiological and psychological effects of using smartphones on children, respectively. The educational technology researchers often apply the findings of child–smartphone interaction when developing educational apps. We surveyed the research literature in human–computer interaction, pediatrics, developmental psychology and educational technology. We tried to identify the capabilities necessary for children to use smartphone apps and the positive and negative effects of doing so. People started using smartphones in the 2000s, and extensive research on child–smartphone interaction took place in the 2010s. In this paper, we try to collate the contributions of researchers from these different disciplines.

The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 discusses children’s ability to use smartphones. Sections 3 and 4 discuss the positive and negative effects of using smartphones on children, respectively. Section 5 provides recommendations related to the use of digital technologies by children and Sect. 6 concludes the paper.

2 Capabilities of children

A thorough knowledge of children’s motor and cognitive capabilities is necessary to develop apps suitable for them. Several researchers have tried to experimentally determine the ability of children of different age groups to acquire targets on the screen, perform touchscreen gestures, follow instructions provided by apps, navigate hypertext and use augmented reality software. The ability to use smartphones gradually improves as children grow up (see Table 1).

Table 1 Summary of capabilities of children of different age groups
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2.1 On-screen movement

Researchers typically use Fitt’s law to assess how quickly children can move to a target on the screen when using touchscreen-based devices. Chang et al. [11] found that the performance of eleven- to fourteen-year-old children is poorer than that of young adults but better than that of elderly users. Cassidy et al. [12] found that eight- and nine-year-old children can acquire targets better with a stylus than using a finger on a touchscreen. However, Fitt’s law may not be used as the sole criterion to assess on-screen movement of children. The position of the target on the screen and the direction in which the finger has to be moved to acquire the target also influence the movement time. For example, Lanna and Oro [13] have recently reported that one- and two-year-old children typically start working at the central part of the screen when provided with a drawing app or a coloring app. Vatavu et al. [14] also reported that three- to six-year-old children find it difficult to drag objects over a long distance across a touchscreen.

2.2 Touchscreen gestures

Using mobile apps requires users to perform different types of touchscreen gestures (Fig. 1). Cristia and Seidl [15] found that 87% children get access to touchscreen-based devices like smartphones and attempt to perform touchscreen gestures by two years of age. However, children cannot use touchscreen-based devices as efficiently as adults do. Anthony et al. [16] experimented with seven- to sixteen-year-old children and observed that the children failed to touch the intended place on the screen more often. The children often tapped on the target or in its vicinity multiple times when they were supposed to tap only once. Additionally, the device failed to recognize the touchscreen gestures performed by children more frequently when compared with adults.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Common touchscreen gestures

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Aziz [17] and Aziz et al. [18] were perhaps the first to investigate which touchscreen gestures can be performed by children. They reported that two-year-old children can tap on the screen at an intended place, three-year-old children can perform other single-finger gestures, and children aged four years and more can also perform multi-finger gestures. Later, Nacher et al. [19, 20] conducted intensive experiments on the ability of two- and three-year-old children to perform various touchscreen gestures. They found that the children could perform single-finger gestures [20] although the accuracy was low for ‘tap and hold’ and ‘double tap’ [19]. The accuracy with which the children performed multi-finger gestures was also low [21]. Hussain et al. [22, 23] also confirmed that four- to six-year-old children have difficulty in performing multi-finger gestures. Lanna and Oro [13] observed that one- and two-year-old children typically use the ‘slide’ gesture while using drawing and coloring apps. Recently, Yadav et al. [24] performed an experiment with two- to eight-year-old children and observed that only 27% children aged two and three years could tap the screen at an intended place, 57% children aged four to six years and 83% children aged seven and eight years could perform single-finger gestures, and only 13% children aged seven and eight years could perform multi-finger gestures.

2.3 Prompting techniques

Mobile apps provide instructions to users on how to use them using various prompting techniques (Fig. 2). Nacher et al. [25,26,27] studied the ability of children to follow instructions provided through different types of animation. They observed that children aged two and three years old [25, 26] and four to six years [27] could understand instructions provided as animation. Around the same time, Hiniker et al. [28] experimented with two- to five-year-old children. They observed that the two-year-old children could not follow any prompting technique, while the three- to five-year-old children could follow non-textual prompting techniques. Later, Yadav et al. [24] observed that children aged two and three years cannot follow any prompting technique, 63% of children aged four to six years and 97% of children aged seven and eight could follow non-textual prompting techniques, while 34% of children aged seven and eight could even follow textual prompting techniques.

Fig. 2
figure 2

Common prompting techniques. Textual information may be displayed by an app either at the beginning, i.e., static text, or intermittently depending on the context, i.e., dynamic text

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2.4 Hypertext

Many apps use hypertext to provide information to users. Several researchers have studied children’s ability to navigate and comprehend hypertext in the last three decades. Although these studies were conducted using personal computers, their findings are also applicable to mobile apps. For example, Lawless et al. [29] performed an experiment on children in an elementary school and observed that that the children could navigate and read from a hypertext document. They also observed that the usage pattern of the children differed from that of adults only slightly and the difference was due to the lack of exposure of the children to the subject of the document. Later, Salmerón and García [30, 31] found that the eleven-year-old children used navigation strategies similar to those used by adults when reading from a hypertext document. Klois et al. [32] observed thirteen-year-old children when they read from a linear text document and a hypertext text document. They found that the children took almost equal time to read from the two mediums. However, the children typically read nonlinearly when reading from the hypertext document. Klois et al. [32] also hypothesized that reading from a hypertext document helps children to create a deeper mental model of the subject.

2.5 Augmented reality

Several augmented reality desktop applications and mobile apps have been developed for children in the last two decades. Augmented reality makes software interactive and attractive for children. Augmented reality has been widely used to enhance pictorial storybooks meant for children. For example, Dünser and Hornecker [33] reported that six- and seven-year-old children can read from augmented reality storybooks. Similar observations were later made by Yilmaz et al. [34] for five- and six-year-old children and Cheng and Tsai [35] for five- to ten-year-old children. Children typically require help from a parent or a teacher to use augmented reality storybooks. Augmented reality software has also been used to teach novel words [36, 37] and concepts of science and mathematics [38,39,40] to children in school.

It is also necessary to determine the age at which children can use augmented reality software without the help of any adult. Yadav et al. [41] observed that two- to six-year-old children get overwhelmed by the interplay of real and virtual objects on the screen and cannot use augmented reality apps independently. Alternatively, children aged seven years and more can use augmented reality software without any external help. Yadav et al. [41] also noticed that seven- and eight-year-old children require 40% more time to perform a task using an augmented reality app when compared to a similar app without augmented reality.

3 Positive effects of child–smartphone interaction

Several researchers have investigated the positive effects of using smartphones by children and if smartphones can help in child rearing. Researchers have been particularly interested in knowing if there is a correlation between usage of touchscreen devices and motor ability of children, if video chatting with parents can instill a sense of proximity in children, and if it is possible to entertain children, nurture their creativity and teach them new words and concepts of mathematics and science using mobile apps (see Table 2).

Table 2 Summary of benefits of using smartphones for children of different age groups
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3.1 Sense of proximity

Video chatting is often the first activity involving smartphones that children now participate in. McClure et al. [42] surveyed parents of six-month to two-year-old children and found that 85% of children have used video chatting at least once and 37% engaged in video chatting at least once a week. The children typically interacted with two persons on the screen at a time. The parents used smartphones more often than tablets or computers to let their children video chat. Tarasuik et al. [43] experimented with one- to five-year-old children and observed that engaging in video chatting provides children a sense of proximity with their parents. Tarasuik et al. [44] further demonstrated that video chatting provides stronger sense proximity than traditional telephone calls. Yadav and Chakraborty [45] observed children younger than two years as they engaged in video chatting with their parents and relatives. They found that the children could knowingly take part in video chats by the time they are one year old. However, the children were interested in video chatting with only those persons whom they have met in real life. The children showed interest in video chatting with persons if they were responsive and spoke contingently. Furthermore, the attention span of children toward video chats was short and typically varied between 5 s and 2 min. Yarosh and Abowd [46] studied how older children engaged in video chats. They interviewed seven- to thirteen-year-old children and their parents. The children and their parents reported that video chatting allowed them longer and more expressive conversation when compared to telephone calls. It has been argued that video chatting can help parents to keep track of their children when they are at work [45] and children to connect with their relatives during geographical separation [44].

3.2 Improved motor ability

Two recent studies have found positive correlation between touchscreen use and fine motor ability of children. Bedford et al. [47] studied the interaction of six-month to three-year-old children with touchscreen devices. They found that the children who started using touchscreen devices, specifically scrolling the screen, earlier developed better fine motor control. Moon et al. [48] experimented with three- to five-year-old children. They found that the frequency of using touchscreen devices is associated with fine motor skill development in three-year-old children. However, no such correlation was observed for four- and five-year-old children. Although these studies reported a positive correlation between touchscreen usage and fine motor ability of children, they did not try to conclude that using touchscreen devices helps children to improve fine motor skills.

Lin et al. [49] had an opposite point of view. They experimented with four- and five-year-old children. The children in the test group used touchscreen devices for 20 min per day for 24 weeks, while the children in the control group played with physical play materials. It was observed that the children in the test group had poorer fine motor precision and pinch strength at the end of the intervention. However, in our opinion, the poorer performance of the children in the test group may have been a result of not playing enough with physical play materials rather than using touchscreen devices.

3.3 Nurturing creativity

Children start scribbling and drawing typically by the age of eighteen months, and their artistic skills improve gradually as they grow up. Drawing is an integral part of child development and plays an important role in nurturing creativity in children. Traditionally, children used to draw with crayons, felt-tip pens and watercolor on paper. However, children now also draw with apps on smartphones and other touchscreen devices.

Some researchers studied the differences between how children draw with traditional mediums and mobile apps. Picard et al. [50] performed an experiment in which five- to eight-year-old children drew with felt-tip pens on paper and also using an app. They observed that the children produced slightly poor quality and less detailed drawings when using the app. Sakr [51] performed a similar experiment in which five- and six-year-old children drew on paper and also using an app. She, however, found that the children were more focused when drawing using the app because the resources were physically confined on the screen.

Other researchers studied how well children adapted to touchscreen devices and what they could draw when provided with a drawing app. Yadav and Chakraborty [3] studied the interaction of two- to four-year-old children with a simple off-the-shelf drawing app. They observed that the two-year-old children typically drew zigzag lines with a single color, the three-year-old children could draw distinct lines and shapes with multiple colors, and the four-year-old children could draw multicolored figures identifiable as real-world objects. In a follow up study, Yadav et al. [52] developed a drawing app specifically for children and observed two- to eight-year-old children use it. They observed that two- and three-year-old children did not explore the features of the app, the four- to six-year-old children were able to use the ‘undo’ and ‘redo’ options and liked to revisit their previous drawings, and the seven- and eight-year-old children were frustrated by the lack of colors in the palette and the simplicity of the app. Furthermore, Shukri and Howes [53] experimented with four- to twelve-year-old children and found that the children could adapt well with touchscreen devices and draw using an app despite their limited motor ability and constraints imposed by touch-based interaction. Yadav et al. [52] proposed that drawing apps of increasing level of sophistication be provided to children as they grow up.

Storytelling is an important part of human communication and storytelling apps may help in nurturing creativity in children. Storytelling apps allow children to read stories and, more importantly, to create and modify stories with multimedia content they can capture using smartphones [54]. Such apps also allow children to collaborate and share their stories with adults and other children. Fails et al. [55] found that six- to ten-year-old children enjoy reading and creating stories using such apps.

3.4 Entertainment

Parents often play videos on their smartphones and lend them to their children to quiet them down or entertain them. Kabali et al. [2] reported that parents typically play videos from popular video-sharing websites to entertain children aged between less than one year and four years. Yadav et al. [56] experimented with six-month to two-year-old children. They found that the children were attracted to the music of the videos at six months of age and were interested in watching the videos at one year of age. The two-year-old children enjoyed watching dance performances by multiple artists with melodic background music, advertisements for products they use, and videos showing toys and balloons.

Children’s behavior when watching television and the effects of watching television on children have been studied by many researchers over the years. Watching videos on smartphones differs slightly from watching television. There are more options to choose from when watching videos on smartphones, and the videos can be played anywhere and anytime on smartphones. Nevertheless, some results related to children watching television are relevant to children watching videos on smartphones. For example, one-year-old children are more likely to look at the screen and for longer duration if a parent is looking at the screen [57] and two-year-old children can distinguish between normal and distorted videos [58].

Children like to play video games, and many game apps are now developed specifically for children. Although many researchers have criticized video games, often for valid reasons, little research has been done on how children play with game apps. Yadav and Chakraborty [59] studied how young children play with game apps on smartphones. They found that two- and three-year-old children could play only with simple games, while four- to six-year-old children liked educational games and puzzles. Furthermore, Yadav et al. [41] found that seven- and eight-year-old children could play with an augmented reality game app. Children prefer to play with game apps of increasing level of sophistication as they grow up and can be entertained by them. However, whether video games can help children to learn [60] or exercise [61] remains debatable.

3.5 Language acquisition

Several researchers have investigated if children can learn new words from television and videos. The results of these studies have been conflicting and still inconclusive. Some researchers reported that children younger than two years can learn new words from purpose-designed videos. For example, Roseberry et al. [62] experimented with two- and three-year-old children. They found that the children could learn new verbs from videos with the younger children requiring parental help to do so. Vandewater [63] experimented with eight to fifteen month old children. The children watched videos at least twice a week for four weeks. They measured the receptive vocabulary of the children and it was observed that the children could understand more words at the end of the intervention. Strouse and Troseth [64] found that active co-viewing by parents helps twenty-three- to twenty-four-month old children to learn new words from videos. Kirkorian et al. [65] also found that two-year-old children could learn new words from interactive videos. Alternatively, several earlier researchers like Robb et al. [66], DeLoache et al. [67], Richert et al. [68] and Krcmar [69] did not find any evidence that watching videos help children up to two years of age to learn new words. Although whether children younger than two years can learn new words from videos is debatable, slightly older children may actually be able to learn new words along with their spelling and pronunciation from suitably designed videos. We recommend research on the possibility of children aged four years and older to learn new words from videos.

In the last five years, some researchers have developed vocabulary apps to teach new words to children. These apps are more interactive than videos and typically use multimedia to teach new words. For example, Walter-Laager et al. [70] performed an experiment in which two-year-old children were taught new words using two types of instructional tools. Some of the children were taught new words using an interactive vocabulary app, while the other children were taught using picture cards. It was observed that the children who were taught using the app learnt better, especially those children who were accompanied by an adult when they used the app. Jain et al. [37] developed an augmented reality vocabulary app and used it to teach new words to children in a kindergarten. It was observed that the children who used the app learnt slightly more number of words than other children who studied from a printed wordbook. Chen et al. [71] developed a vocabulary app and used it to teach new words to ten- and eleven-year-old children for two weeks. They found that the app helped the children to learn more words. Dore et al. [72] used an interactive game app to teach new words to four-year-old children. The children who used the app showed evidence of learning on both receptive and expressive vocabulary measures.

3.6 Informal learning

Education technology researchers have been developing specialized apps to foster informal learning among schoolchildren. These apps typically cover topics in mathematics, science and geography. For example, Berkowitz et al. [73] conducted a study in which elementary school students were provided an app to practice mathematics. The app covered topics in arithmetic and geometry. The children used the app with parental help at home several times in a week for one year. The intervention resulted in better mathematical skills among the children. Around the same time, Wang et al. [74] conducted a study in which two apps were used to teach physics to high school students. The students learnt about projectile motion and collision of moving objects using the app. The study revealed that the apps helped the students to learn better, especially the advanced concepts. Later, Walczak and Taylor [75] performed an experiment on teaching geography to elementary school students. The children in the control group studied the map of USA using a wooden puzzle, while the children in the test group studied the same using an app. The performance of the children of the two groups was similar in the posttest. Walczak and Taylor [75] observed that the wooded puzzle and the app have their own benefits and they hypothesized that children will learn better if they were taught using both the tools. Chien et al. [40] used an augmented reality app to teach students in a primary school about plants and observed that the tool helped the children to comprehend the topic better. Zydney and Warner [76] presented a comprehensive survey of apps developed to facilitate science learning among schoolchildren.

Nowadays, children start accessing the Internet at around seven years of age. They search for information using popular search engines. Foss et al. [77] found that seven- to eleven-year-old children use search engines to look for information related to their casual and academic interests, while Foss et al. [78] found that fourteen- to seventeen-year-old children’s online searches are mostly related to their school assignments. Later, Eisen and Lillard [79] performed an experiment in which three- to six-year-old children were asked to choose between a book and a touchscreen device to look for information for a hypothetical learning task. It was observed that the younger children had no clear preference, but the six-year-old children chose the touchscreen device more often especially for finding information on time sensitive topics like the weather. Children typically have problems in framing search queries in natural language [80] and, as a result, several specialized search engines have been developed for children like the one discussed by Bilal [81]. However, children prefer to use the popular search engines and, consequently, Azpiazu et al. [82] presented a tool that can help five- to fifteen-year-old children to frame queries for popular search engines. The researchers until now have studied how children use search engines when they do so from their computers. We recommend that how children use search engines from smartphones, especially using voice-based queries, be also researched.

4 Negative effects of child–smartphone interaction

Overuse of smartphones may cause physiological implications, like sleep disorders and obesity, and psychological implications, like addiction and anxiety, in children (see Table 3). Using smartphones may further expose children to cyberbullying and inappropriate contents online. Several researchers have studied the negative effects of using smartphones and other forms of digital media by children.

Table 3 Summary of negative effects of using smartphones on children of different age groups
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4.1 Physiological effects

The pervasive use of screen media is often blamed as a likely contributor to sleep insufficiency in children and adolescents [83]. According to one theory, screen devices emit light with high proportion of short-wavelengths which suppresses melatonin levels and delays the circadian clock of users [84]. Children are particularly vulnerable to such light because of their larger pupil size and more transparent eye lens [85]. In an early study, Van den Bulck [86] surveyed secondary school students and found that a sizable proportion of children are woken up at night by text messages received by their phones. Later, Lemola et al. [87] surveyed twelve- to seventeen-year-old children and found that the children used smartphones to watch videos, play games and send text messages before going to sleep. Lemola et al. [87] also argued that the small size of smartphones allowed the children to carry them to the bed more often than other Internet-connected devices. Fobian et al. [88] assessed the quality of sleep received by adolescents who are regular users of digital media. They found that sleep efficiency, i.e., percentage of time a person is asleep between sleep onset and offset, was negatively correlated to daily time spent text messaging, bedtime media use and nighttime awakenings by phones. Recently, Chindamo et al. [89] surveyed the parents of one- and two-year-old children and found that daily use of smartphones and other touchscreen devices led to longer sleep onset latency and shorter sleep time in the children.

Prolonged exposure to screen media may also lead to obesity in children because they skip regular physical activities and often consume calorie-rich food and drinks when engaged with screen media [90]. Several researchers have investigated the association between media use and obesity in children and adolescents. For example, Epstein et al. [91] experimented with four- to seven-year-old children and found that reducing television viewing and computer use helped in reducing obesity in the children during a two year intervention period. Chaput et al. [92] experimented with children aged fifteen years and more and found that playing video games led to increased food intake in the children.

4.2 Psychological effects

Addictive use of computers and the Internet by adolescents has been studied by several researchers. Children who are addicted to computers typically spend several hours daily in front of computers. They typically visit various websites and chat rooms, play games online and download music and videos as reported in a case study by King et al. [93]. Cao and Su [94] surveyed twelve- to sixteen-year-old children to study the prevalence of Internet addiction. They observed that 88% of the children used the Internet and 2% were addicted to it. Although computer and Internet addictions have been studied in detail, not much work has been done to understand if children can become addicted to smartphones. Recently, Ihm [95] studied the causes and effects of smartphone addiction in nine- to seventeen-year-old children. It was observed that children participating in frequent and quality social activities are less susceptible to smartphone addiction. It was also observed that children addicted to smartphones participate less in social engagements.

Screen media use has been often blamed for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents [96]. However, there is no consensus on whether exposure to screen media leads to ADHD. For example, Hastings et al. [97] found an association between playing video games, especially the violent ones, and attention-related problems in six- to ten-year-old children. Alternatively, several researchers did not find strong correlations between media exposure and ADHD. For example, Zimmerman and Christakis [98] conducted a study in which they enrolled children aged less than five years and followed them up after five years. They found media exposure has only limited association with subsequent attention related problems. Later, Nikkelen et al. [99] experimented with three- to seven-year-old children and found that ADHD-related behavior was associated with neither overall media exposure nor violent content.

Limited use of age appropriate media may not be harmful for children. However, excessive use of smartphones displaces social and academic activities of children. Ihm [95] argued that children who do not receive enough comfortable social interactions and feelings of support in the real world tend more often to escape to smartphones.

4.3 Online vulnerabilities

Cyberbullying is bullying using digital technologies and children become susceptible to it once they start accessing the Internet. Cyberbullying may occur through emails, messaging apps, chat rooms and social networking sites. Raskauskas and Stoltz [100] surveyed thirteen- to eighteen-year-old children and found that cyberbullying is often related to bullying at school. Smith et al. [101] surveyed eleven- to sixteen-year-old children and found that the frequency of cyberbullying is significant though less than that of traditional bullying. Children are bullied through phone calls, text messages and other means often by children of their own age group. Later, Schneider et al. [102] analyzed census data of high school students to find the prevalence of cyberbullying. They found that 16% of children were bullied online while 26% were bullied at school. Furthermore, it was observed that 60% of the victims of cyberbullying were also victims of bullying at school. Such an overlap between cyberbullying and traditional bullying was also observed by Raskauskas and Stoltz [100] and Smith et al. [101]. Schneider et al. [102] found that the victims of cyberbullying and traditional bullying suffered from psychological distress.

Most social networking sites require their users to be at least thirteen years old. However, children younger than the prescribed minimum age often create profiles on social networking sites and use them intermittently. Children are particularly vulnerable to bullying and exposure to inappropriate contents on social networking sites. For example, Ybarra and Mitchell [103] surveyed ten- to fifteen-year-old children regarding their social media use and 15% children reported that they received unwanted sexual solicitations online in the last year.

Children are exposed to inappropriate contents, violent or sexual, on other websites also. For example, Flood [104] reported the results of a survey of sixteen- and seventeen-year-old children that found three-quarters of boys and one-tenth of girls have been exposed to sexual content online. The exposures were accidental more often and deliberate in fewer cases. Children also send sexually inappropriate contents to others online. For example, Burén and Lunde [105] recently surveyed twelve- to sixteen-year-old children and found that 4 to 16% children sent sexually nuanced images to friends and strangers with the trend being more common among the older children.

5 Discussion

5.1 Summary

Children typically use digital technologies for two purposes, viz. learning and play [106]. Figure 3 represents the state of the art of child–smartphone interaction using a directed acyclic graph (DAG). Children get exposed to, and become passive users of, smartphones often around the age of six months. Their parents play music on smartphones to quieten and entertain them. By the time children are one year old, they like to watch videos played on smartphones. Parents typically show them videos from popular video-sharing websites to keep them engaged while staying near them. Some researchers have found that children aged about two years can learn new words from suitable produced videos. However, the claim is disputed by other researchers. Some parents also talk with their children through video chat from their office or when they are away for longer periods. Children can knowingly take part in video chat by the age of one year, and it provides them a sense of comfort and proximity with their parents. Children prefer video chatting over telephone calls as the former allows more expressive communication. However, using smartphone before going to bed leads to longer sleep onset latency and shorter sleep time in children younger than eight years.

Fig. 3
figure 3

A DAG representation of the state of the art of child–smartphone interaction. Capabilities of children and positive and negative effects of using smartphones on children have been shown in blue, green and red, respectively. There is no consensus on whether children can learn new words from videos and screen media use can cause ADHD. Additionally, only a few researchers have inferred that scrolling the screen of touchscreen devices improves motor skills of children. (Color figure online)

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Children become active users of smartphones at about two years of age when they can hold smartphones firmly in their hands. Children can perform single-finger touchscreen gestures and follow non-textual prompting techniques by the age of four years. Children further learn to perform multi-finger touchscreen gestures, follow textual prompting techniques and navigate hypertext by seven years of age. Children aged seven and eight can also use augmented reality apps. Children aged thirteen years can read from a hypertext document in a nonlinear sequence.

Children like to scribble and draw with drawing apps starting at an early age. Two-year-old children typically scribble with a single color when provided with a drawing app, while four-year-old children can draw using multiple colors. Children can draw plausible human figures by the age of eleven with a drawing app. Some researchers suggest that scrolling the screen of touchscreen devices helps children younger than five years to improve their motor skills. If that is true, then scribbling with a drawing app will also be beneficial for children. Two- and three-year-old children can learn new words from vocabulary apps and be entertained by simple games. Four- to six-year-old children may use informal learning apps and educational games. Educational apps for older children may use increasing levels of sophistication and augmented reality. Children start searching for information related to their studies and hobbies on the Internet at around seven years of age. As they grow up, children also search information online for completing their school assignments.

Overuse of smartphones, however, affects children physiologically and psychologically. Overuse of smartphones may lead to obesity, smartphone addiction and sleep disorders in children. However, it is not clear if overuse of smartphones can result into ADHD. Children, at times, misuse digital technologies. They join social networking sites before they reach the prescribed age for doing so. Parents need to be careful when their children start accessing the Internet. Children are vulnerable to cyberbullying and exposure to sexual and other offensive content online.

Nowadays, children also use tablet computers and many issues related to child–smartphone interaction are also applicable when children interact with tablet computers. However, smartphones are more common and many people carry smartphones always with them. Consequently, children get to interact with smartphones more than other touchscreen devices. There are some issues unique to tablet computers that may be taken into account while developing software for children. For example, the screen of a tablet computer is larger than that of a smartphone. However, children get easily overwhelmed if too much of text and images is displayed at a time. Therefore, apps for children should display only the essential contents and keep some space free on the screen of a tablet computer. Again, children younger than eight years typically find it difficult to drag icons across the screen and software for tablet computers should not require children to drag objects over more than a few centimeters.

5.2 Recommendations

Three sets of people, viz. software developers, parents and educational policymakers, largely control which apps children can use and in what ways. Professional and amateur software developers produce apps for children. Parents provide smartphones to children and help them to download and use apps at home. School teachers and educational policymakers typically recommend educational apps that children may use to complement their classes. On the basis of this review of literature and our own experience on this topic, we provide some suggestions to these three sets of people as follows.

Software developers may:

  • Collaborate with parents, schools, pediatricians and developmental psychologists when developing apps for children;

  • Design apps according to the skills, limitations and educational requirements of children of different age groups;

  • Carefully decide about the layout of apps, use and placement of different widgets in them, and the way children will interact with them;

  • Be cautious of not overwhelming children with voluminous content and innumerable features, and

  • Be considerate of the security and privacy of children and avoid in-app advertisements and purchases.

Parents need to:

  • Have a fresh and unbiased perspective on the use of digital technologies by their children;

  • Be wise when selecting apps and choose apps that can actually help their children;

  • Co-use the apps with their children at times;

  • Limit the use of screen media by their children to two hours in a day and restrict the same at bedtime;

  • Find a balance between physical and online activities for their children;

  • Keep a regular yet subtle vigil on the apps used by their children especially once they start accessing the Internet, and

  • Counsel their children about the harmful effects of overusing screen media.

Teachers, schools and educational policymakers should:

  • Make the best use of digital technologies in child development;

  • Use a combination of traditional and digital teaching tools;

  • Explore recently launched apps and recommend the appropriate ones to children;

  • Try to integrate educational apps to the school curriculum and encourage informal learning with the help of apps, and

  • Be receptive to concerns and demands of individual children.

6 Conclusions

The public perception on child–smartphone interaction is polarized. Parents who use digital technologies a lot typically think that using smartphones can help their children significantly [107]. Alternatively, many other parents think that the negative effects of using smartphones by children outweigh its positive effects [51]. Additionally, some experts, like Victorin [108], have slightly alarmist views on the topic. We found that recent studies have inferred that using suitably developed apps help in child development [9], while overuse and misuse of digital technologies indeed harm children [10]. We think that there is a need for a more balanced narrative on child–smartphone interaction.

We call for more and systematic research on child–smartphone interaction. The capabilities of children should be assessed objectively. Software developers should design apps for children of different age groups according to their capabilities. User-centered design methods are typically prescribed when designing artifacts for children [109] and may also be used for developing apps for children. Younger children find it difficult to explore the content and features of apps on their own, while children older than eight years like flexibility and prefer navigating inside an app according to their own choice. Consequently, different versions of apps may be developed for children of different age groups whenever necessary. Professional and amateur software developers should develop apps that encourage creativity and learning in children. Parents and teachers should make the best use of smartphones apps to support child rearing while remaining cautious of the negative implications of the technology.