In the patient room of a children’s hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, M. and her husband are busily trying to get their one year-old daughter to suck her milk bottle in a way that may stun parents of past generations.

M. activates her iPhone, touches the video app to open a cartoon, and keeps the screen in front of the baby, nicknamed Ti, while her husband tries to get the bottle’s nipple into her tiny mouth.

The mother proudly tells other parents in the room that Ti will only drink milk when she is shown something on the iPhone.

“The iPhone has become the ‘magic tool’ for us to feed our baby,” she says.

M. adds that the baby is already able to “surf the smartphone quickly,” even at her young age.

Modern devices like smartphones and tablets have become the very first toys for many local children. Many two to three year-old babies know how to use an iPad or iPhone, and even open their favorite cartoons in the video app, or pick games like AngryBirds.

Some even cry and get angry if the devices are taken away from them.

Kim Hoa, the mother of a five year-old boy who is in the same room with M., says her son too refuses to eat without an iPad.

“It was very hard to get him eat when he was two to three, then we bought an iPad for him and it worked,” she recalls.

For Binh, a resident of District 10 and a mother of two daughters, the iPad saves her and her husband from having to hire two babysitters.

The parents have to work all day and often come home very late, Binh said.

“My maid is already busy with the home chores and taking care of the younger baby, so giving my four-year-old daughter an iPad to play with is the best solution,” she said.

Misconceptions

Besides using smartphones and tablets as “digital babysitters,” many parents also hope that having their children access the devices at an early age will help them become “quickly knowledgeable in technology.”

K, the head of IT of a company in Binh Thanh District, is very proud of his 5-year-old son, who he says is now capable of downloading new games for his smartphone. “He can do things even I can’t,” he said.

Vinh, a father based in Tan Binh District, believes his son can learn a lot from a smartphone.

His daughter, Vy, now spends four to five hours per day on a Galaxy S4 and an iPad, which are full of apps and games whose sounds and images Vinh says “will boost the baby’s creativity.”

But experts say the real impact of smartphones on children may displease parents like those described above.

Nhi, the four-year-old daughter of Binh, can now hardly speak a clear, full sentence, something she was able to do well when she was just two, according to her mother. “Is it because I let her play too much on the iPad?” she said.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Thi Duc Hanh, of District 12, said her son has severe short-sightedness even though he is only nine.

The boy was given a smartphone to play with when he was seven, and “whenever he is using the device, he does not care what happens around him, even his family and friends.”

Doctor advice

Doctor Pham Minh Triet, head of psychology at Nhi Dong 1 Hospital, said a child’s speaking ability can be reduced if they spend too much time watching TV or playing on smartphones.

“There is no need for communication when children play with such devices. Comprehensively, their speech ability will decline,” the doctor said.

Triet also advised parents not to let children under six to watch TV or play on a smartphone for more than an hour a day.

“It is also advisable that children under two be kept away from TV and technology devices,” he added.