Mobile technology usage in early childhood: Pre-COVID-19 and the national lockdown period in North Cyprus

Abstract

COVID-19 has affected North Cyprus since the beginning of March 2020. On March 10(th) 2020, the council of ministers in North Cyprus announced a lockdown and listed some restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus; schools and entertainment centres were closed, and children had to spend most of their day at home. This study aims to examine the use of mobile technology before and during the COVID-19 lockdown period by children aged three to six, based on parents' opinions. This is a descriptive study with a sample of 319 parents. Data and demographic information were collected with a questionnaire and analysed with SPSS (24.0). Comparing the duration of mobile technology device usage before the pandemic and during the lockdown period, an increase is evident, as expected. Of note, when compared to the pre-pandemic period, it is found that there is a decrease in the rate of mobile technology device usage for video viewing during the lockdown period. The findings also suggest that children mostly first experienced mobile technology devices in some way before 36 months of age. This study has determined that most children do not have their own mobile technology device.