When I think back to my first pregnancy nearly a decade ago, I marvel at how different things were back then. Those precious nine months were actually tracked in a book, and not via pregnancy apps. I talked to my friends about morning sickness instead of commiserating with "friends" on forums. Baby gear research was hands-on at big box retailers, instead of buying blindly from positive reviews online.

Fast forward to present-day and baby number three, who in five short months has already been exposed to a world filled to the brim with technology. Whether it’s the Internet radio she loves staring at in the kitchen or the phones she sees her parents holding, there are bright, shiny gadgets all around her.

I love the tech that’s available to us as a society, and have even sung its praises for making me a better mom. But at the same time, I wonder about the kind of digital world in which my baby and two older kids are growing up. Moreover, I wonder how I can protect them from technology as much as possible, for as long as I can.

I write about kids’ apps, and I think there are so many fantastic, educational, entertaining and truly engaging options out there. But I don’t ever promote apps for kids under the age of two or three. There's just no need for kids that young to interact with flat screens.

According to a study by Common Sense Media, 38% of kids under the age of two have already used a mobile device, even though the American Academy of Pediatrics discourages use of any screens for kids in the first two years of life. In addition to studies showing long-term effects on attention span, creativity, writing and communication skills, it just makes sense that for babies, interaction with real people is so much more valuable than with screens.

But am I fighting a losing battle? When a major retailer creates a newborn bouncy seat with a built-in iPad holder, or another creates a similar iPad holder with a potty seat attached to it, the options for "old-fashioned" gear — that is, without an iPad holder — decrease. And there’s a reason for gadgets such as these: Apps for babies and toddlers continue to be developed and downloaded.

Image: CTA Digital/Amazon

Ultimately, parents have the final say in what their children are exposed to, but with the influx of technology in our homes, it’s easy to keep kids occupied with tablets, phones, laptops and any other screen that’s lying around. According to a Northwestern survey of more than 2,300 parents, 17% report being “very or somewhat likely” to give a mobile device to their kids under two when they need to get things done.

There is no doubt that technology has a way of keeping kids quiet, and as a mom of three, I completely understand those moments of desperation when quiet is all you want. But at the same time, I’m not sure that placing an iPad into small hands is the answer. I cringe whenever I see a baby in a stroller looking down at a screen instead of looking up at the pretty trees, or when kids at a soccer game are hunched over their gaming devices on the sidelines instead of watching the real field.

But the reality is, our society is dramatically different from 10 (or even five) years ago. How can kids expect to behave differently from what they see all around them, when their parents text at the dinner table and when, in every public place, they see the majority of the population looking down at screens? After all, 91% of American adults are cellphone users, and of those, 56% have smartphones (according to Pew Research).

Technology is pervasive, and I know that it’ll have a much greater place in my kids’ childhoods than it did in mine. Maybe I’m unrealistically clinging onto the deep desire for kids to just be kids — to play outside until it gets dark, to lose all sense of time burying tunnels in the sand and to rely on their own imaginations instead of turning to a screen to help them.

I know that my kids have a technology-filled life ahead of them, and tech will continue to have a plethora of benefits. But for young kids, my hope is that they'll benefit from simple pleasures in the real world first.

I don’t think that’s too much to ask, do you?

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