London - Family meals can be ruined by technology if children spend their entire time tapping away on their phone.
But an app claims to be able to solve the problem – by locking their electronic gadgets at meal times.
The free DinnerTime app can even show children how much time they have left before they can leave the table.
The idea was born after co-creator Richard Sah noticed the way his three children were always distracted by smartphones and tablets at dinner time and bedtime.
“I wanted to create something that could help my children focus on other activities, and we could enjoy quality time together,” he said. The app enables parents to pause activity on devices, so that everything from browsing the internet to texting and calling friends is temporarily disabled.
Children can see a countdown clock which tells them exactly how much time remains before they can access their gadget again. A more advanced version of the DinnerTime app can also tell parents the source of the distraction – by revealing how long their child has used their device for and on which apps.
And they can control access to certain apps – making sure that children can only use educational applications during exam time, for example. The app is owned by US firm ZeroDesktop, which says it is trying to create tools that make everyday life easier.
Its CEO, Young Song, said: “Technology offers us an incredible source of information at our fingertips, as well as connecting people around the world. Yet at the same time it poses significant challenges in its addictiveness, and can cause a barrier between people.
“For years people have been saying that technology is making us anti-social – this is something we hope to change.”
According to a recent study, 89 percent of children aged six to nine are active online. Only 14 percent of youngsters aged three to five can tie their own shoes, while 57 percent of them know how to operate a tablet. - Daily Mail