Would You Buy Your Kid an iPad-Equipped Bouncy Seat or Potty Trainer?

A new product that incorporates an iPad into an infant bouncy seat is making headlines locally and nationally as groups look to get this product off the market.

Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, a Boston-based advocacy group, is asking consumers to tell Fisher Price to take its latest product off the market - the Fisher-Price Newborn-to-Toddler Apptivity™ Seat for iPad®

And it's not the only such device. This potty training seat has a stand for an iPad.

In a society where technology is never too far away from each of us - from iPhones to iPads to tablets - there is concern by pediatricians and educators to limit this use in infants, toddlers and children as it can impact their ability to learn, in the earliest childhood years.

The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages any screen time for children under the age of two including television and electronic devices because a child’s brain develops rapidly over these first years. The organization says young children learn best by interacting with people not screens. Pediatricians too recommend limitations. This includes reading books on these devices like a Kindle or an iPad, because children can learn from holding an actual book and interacting with a parent, such as the texture and feel of the book and learning how to turn pages.

The Fisher-Price Newborn-to-Toddler Apptivity™ Seat for iPad®, has a spot for an iPad directly above the infant’s face, blocking his or her view of the rest of the world, the group says in a statement released this week. According to CCFC, the product is marketed as being educational for newborns and encourages parents to download “early learning apps.”

My pediatrician went so far as to require parents of all his patients to read the book “The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in a Digital Age.” Written by clinical psychologist Catherine Steiner-Adair, it addresses the lasting effects of chronic technology distractions and how children need what only parents (and not technology) can provide. It's worth a read.