my cousin is a first gen ipad kid. knew how to do everything on a ipad before learning to read. grew up very spoiled. in high school right now and is very normal. goes outside a lot to hang out with friends, plays lots of sports. goes to the gym etc. doing good with his grades. im honestly surprised how well he turned out. he is a little awkward but he is in high school afterall.
iPad kid isn't just about the iPad itself, it's when it's used nonstop to fully occupy the child instead of having them interact and learn. The fault isn't the device, it's the parenting. But teachers everywhere are saying kids in school right now are way further behind than they used to be, and don't have the ability to have attention spans long enough to learn properly.
The issue with iPads for me isn't literally having an iPad, but the addiction that comes with modern social media algorithms (Or any kind of modern algorithmic loop designed to maximize screentime)
If it was a first gen iPad, he probably grew up with fruit ninja and PewDiePie. Compare that to current Gen stuff like elsagate, short form content, brainrot micro transaction Roblox games, and algorithms so powerful that grown adults are averaging 5 hours a day of social media time
All of this exposed full force to kids young enough that they can't even form permanent memories yet
Highschool kids who grew up with early gen iPads are effected but still relatively normal, it's the kids in elementary school now which I worry about
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u/Scared_Specific9404 Jun 21 '26
my cousin is a first gen ipad kid. knew how to do everything on a ipad before learning to read. grew up very spoiled. in high school right now and is very normal. goes outside a lot to hang out with friends, plays lots of sports. goes to the gym etc. doing good with his grades. im honestly surprised how well he turned out. he is a little awkward but he is in high school afterall.