We are seeing impacts to both, but you are right: especially to attention and self-entertainment skills. I work in elementary, but colleagues say it’s especially bleak in the secondary grades with students that require constant stimulation and who struggle to stay attentive and engaged long enough to manage complex tasks. I have also heard that one of the side-effects of this constant need for stimulation and stimulation-to-cope is affecting kids ability to self-regulate. We ARE seeing a dramatic increase in violent/anti-social behavior in elementary schools.

We really need to get our arms around this problem because iPad parenting isn’t going away, nor should the use of technology in our lives be shunned. The future is going to be won through the development and application of new and beneficial technologies. Parents should be taught the risks and pitfalls so that we can shift the ways we raise children in our culture.