The day may not be far off when Baby's first word is uttered while she's watching "Sesame Street" on her Apple cribphone, complete with Velcro diaper attachment for hands-free gurgling.
At least 30 percent of kids ages 6 months to 5 years use the Internet at least once a week, many of them multitasking with TV and the Web, according to a new report by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, a division of the Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit group behind the show.
TV is still king for this age group, but at age 8, there's a sharp shift to mobile devices and games. The average 8-year-old consumes nearly eight hours of media a day; the average 10-year-old, more than 10.
The conclusion: "The balancing act of media use with playing and exercising is out of whack, and parents need to do a better job of guiding and controlling their children's media consumption," said Michael Levine, center director.
The findings of "Always Connected: The New Digital Media Habits of Young Children" were drawn from seven studies conducted between 2006 and 2010.
"Sesame Street" will be lending a fuzzy hand, as it has with the childhood obesity epidemic. The Cookie Monster went on a diet, and now the Muppets gang will push for more responsible media habits.
The report also found that the time children spend with good old-fashioned books, about an hour a day, has not decreased in the past few years. Counterintuitive? Not really, Levine said: "Nothing can replace a parent reading to a child."
