Digital devices engage tots, but some experts discourage use before age 2

If there’s one toy guaranteed to captivate toddlers this holiday season, it’s the iPad. What’s more appealing to a tot than blinking lights, fun sounds and touch screens that allow them to move things with the swipe of a tiny, sticky finger? A 2011 survey of parents by Common Sense Media, an organization that provides media education for families, found that 39 percent of 2-to-4-year-olds have used digital media such as smartphones and iPads. James Steyer, chief executive and founder of the group, is confident that number has risen in the past year. To make things easier on parents, kids and the iPad itself, Fisher-Price has a line of iPad and iPod protectors. But Steyer has stern advice for adults considering buying toddlers their very own iPads this Christmas: “No. Ridiculous idea.” Among parents and experts, the idea of giving a toddler an iPad is a fraught subject. There are some obvious drawbacks. For one thing, they’re expensive — as much as $829 for the most recent version. They’re also fragile. But the science on how the iPad affects young children isn’t yet clear, and while some experts see them as developmentally inappropriate, others see some benefits to the technology — and not just in keeping a parent’s sanity (if not guilt) in check.