Can design save youngsters from “unhealthy” display screen time?
As apps for kids proliferate, questions are being asked about the dangers of the screen. But the new OK Play app uses design and creativity to create a more positive relationship between kids and technology
The app, which launched in September this year, was created by OK Company, which was set up by a team of creatives, academics and entrepreneurs, including executives from TikTok, Headspace and Snap. It is intended to be a shared experience between children and parents and to offer a range of activities to support children's creative and emotional development and teach them how to make stories, take pictures and make films. The OK Company describes its mission as a nudging culture in a "friendlier, more acceptable direction".
The idea for OK Play came after Chris Ovitz, one of the founders, saw a documentary about Mr Rogers, the presenter of the US children's television program Mister Rogers & # 39; Neighborhood. He was inspired by the way Rogers had used the television screen to "reach out to millions of families and talk to them about emotions, especially the difficult ones," as he told Business Insider, and saw the opportunity to do something similar for the smartphone and tablet to do screen – which is becoming an increasingly controversial environment for many parents.