answer:I went to a conference earlier this year about education and new technology. One of the presenters showed a video of a very young child playing with a phone. Looking at photos and I think the child picked some music to play. It used the phone naturally. The point was, these are the students of the future and they will be using this technology and the technology that follows it to learn, communicate, work and many other things. Our kids don’t communicate in the way we did when we were children. They often do use phones and tablets. In our schools, young people (not little kids) are expected to have laptops to work on. I see letting them learn how to use this technology as being akin to us learning to use crayons and pencils. They are tools we will use throughout life. Young people expect learning to be interactive. I am not suggesting they shouldn’t also play with balls and bricks, jigsaws and traditional toys but I don’t think it is a bad thing that they become used to the technology that will be a major part of their lives. As to what age, when they are interested. I was looking for that link but there was another link with a child playing with its mothers smart phone and swiping to make it do things. They are learning hand-eye coordination. I am not suggesting give your 1 year old a phone and leave them with it. I don’t see any harm in them being part of the child’s learning through play though. New technologies bring with them a whole range of challenges for us to navigate. We will have to learn how to deal better with cyberbullying and the like. I am sure we will manage this. It will take time though and technological change moves quickly.