The App Gap

This NYTimes article calls to mind the All Staff Day presenter who'd talked about the importance of reading to infants and how that determines their future success. Looks like it's not just reading anymore. Scientists now say that there is an "app gap" between affluent children who are exposed to computers and iPads (i.e. mobile education games) from an early age and low socioeconomic children who are not (i.e. just television). Over half of affluent families will download apps for their children to play with, while more than a third of low-income parents don't even know what an 'app' is. This can set a child even further behind when they are expected to know how to use computers for research and typing essays in school. It looks like along with the problem of reading gaps in children, we need to be concerned about a technology 'app gap' as well.