Parents — Here is your chance to help scientists who are studying the impact of screen time on children.  No generation has been as saturated with media as this one.  Babies learn to play with smartphones and tablets before they can talk.  Children expect to be able to watch movies on a 10-minute drive to the grocery store.  You can help scientists understand the scope and impact of screen time on kids by taking ten minutes to fill out this survey (you might even win a prize, just for participating).  The study is being undertaken by Dr. Robert Pressman who told the Boston Globe:

Technology is not all negative. It’s like water?—?we need to have water, but if we have too much, we drown. Technology is extraordinarily compelling. It’s addictive. It’s a time sink. Clinically, we have children spending hours with a screen after they go to . They may not go to sleep until 1 or 2 in the morning. Parents are exasperated; they have given up.

And it starts at an early age. The other day, in the elevator, a mother had two toddlers in this double playing with some child-oriented screen. They weren’t interacting with each other, weren’t interacting with Mom. I try to be open-minded, to say it’s entertainment. Should it be eliminated? Definitely not. It’s an important advancement. I get the biggest kick out of seeing my 5-year-old granddaughter playing on her VTech while her older brother is engrossed in a new app on his iPad. I also wonder what impact it might have on them. Like most parents, I’m hoping to get some answers.