Why do Babies Love Mobile Phones?
On:7 September 2022
Plenty of parents — myself included — can attest to their babies snagging their smartphone right from their hands at one point or another. The love babies seem to have for cell phones is matched only by their love for playing with the remote control. But, why? Why do babies love cell phones so much?
Babies like to grab pretty much anything they can get their chubby little fingers on, so are their parents' phones simply something they see within their reach, or is there more to it than that? Romper asked experts to explain exactly what it is about cell phones that babies love, and what this says about their development.
"Babies are attracted to the bright colors and lights of smartphones," Dr. Michael Mintz, clinical psychologist at Children’s National Hospital tells Romper. "Our phones are extremely stimulating and, in a sense, unnatural — that is, to say, the lights and images that come from our phones are unlike anything a child might see in their natural environment. As such, our brains are not designed to engage with this level of stimulation, which is one reason why it is so easy for people (adults and kids alike) to get addicted to them."
Experts agree that the degree to which a baby interacts with your cell phone can have an impact on their development not only because of the stimulation the screen is providing, but how they interact with the phone in other ways as well.
