All our electronic companions, be it smartphone, tablet or laptop, need some kind of action before they unlock their screens to let us indulge in our god given right of swiping or typing or just stabbing at our touch screens. A Massachusetts-based technology company, Pass Task, has come up with a great idea to make the most out of our, mostly the kids, constant screen unlocking, namely TOP – Task Oriented Password.
According to NBC News, teens spend nine hours a day in front of screens and children ages 8-12 spend six hours. Fighting this trend is quite difficult and will not happen overnight, TOPs wants to balance this overuse with “bursts” of knowledge every time a device gets unlocked.
“Raising six kids in the new mobile world, I saw immediately the
incredible time being spent on mobile devices and knew then the difficult
challenge,” said Fred Curtis Jr., founder and CEO of PassTask, LLC. “I
had to do something to create more value with that time. With TOPs, we
balance their screen time with captivating educational content delivered in
an effortless manner each time they pick up their device.”
Partnering with content leaders such as Encyclopaedia Britannica, Merriam Webster and Getty
Images, the app gives you a 10-second Knowledge Burst, covering history, vocabulary or science, at every unlock screen. The user can set the intensity of the Knowledge Bursts from optional, where there is a prompt that recommends the 10-second Knowledge Burst, to mandatory, where the user has to go through the 10 seconds before the screen unlocks.
If you can’t beat them join them: It will hardly be possible to take electronic gadgets away for kids, consequently the best approach is to integrate smartphones and tablets into the educational process. TOPs is a first step, a good idea and will hopefully make our kids a little smarter, there is nothing wrong with letting kids work a little for the privilege of playing.
