Are Audio Players The Answer To Keeping Kids Off Screens?

When I was 3 years old, like many children of the ’80s, I was gifted a Fisher Price tape recorder. It had four buttons: play, forward, rewind and record. Its aesthetic would be at home in today’s popular parenting palate of sad beige, because its colours are brown and brown. 

I had a few Raffi tapes that I listened to on repeat during long car rides, and I also spent plenty of time recording my own nonsense songs and making grown-ups listen to them. 

It was the kind of imagination and creativity-rich play that parents are so anxious to get their children more of these days, as we desperately scramble for anything that doesn’t involve a screen to distract our kids, who — like us — are happy to zone out on an endless scroll whenever they have the opportunity. 

New technologies between my Raffi tapes and now have fundamentally transformed the way we consume music and all other audiovisual content. With a few taps on my phone, I can find a recording of almost any song I’ve ever heard — usually for free. But this unfettered access comes at a cost. The apps we use to access entertainment of all kinds are designed to keep us coming back for more, creating a loyal audience for advertisers. 

When my son was 3, it didn’t take long for one search of “Thomas the Tank Engine” on YouTube to send us down a never-ending rabbit hole of train videos, most of which, taken on their own, were cute and harmless. What was clearly not harmless, however, was the way the laptop or iPad or iPhone screen hijacked my child’s attention, turning him into a little content zombie who asked for “one more” every time we threatened to power down. 

Parents are in a bind. They don’t want to deny their kids access to all the music and podcasts and other content that are available digitally. Neither do they want their children’s consciousness consumed by the algorithm. There is a growing mountain of evidence connecting screen time to developmental issues like speech delays, and mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and eating disorders. 

Smelling an eager market, businesses have seized on this parental anxiety and developed a product they’ve dubbed an “audio player” that is, essentially, a 21st century version of my Fisher Price tape recorder. After a parent shells out $70-100 for the device, they can purchase content, which comes on a “card” (if you buy a Yoto) or a “figure” indistinguishable from a toy (if you buy a Toniebox). Other brands use similar systems. 

For the price of a $9.99 Yoto card, today’s 3-year-olds can “sing and dance with Raffi” just like I did four decades ago. It’s as though we boomeranged into the future, discovered a new frontier of parental worry, and landed right back where we began.

HuffPost spoke with professionals who work with children and parents who have purchased audio players for their families. While no one believes they will be the solution to the screen time dilemma, many users tout their benefits. 

The Pros

The number one benefit of an audio player is that when a child is using it they are not looking at a screen. 

“Children are able to focus more on what they’re hearing, allowing their imaginations to run wild in ways screens simply can’t and will never be able to offer,” John Bianchette, vice president of education and training at Mathnasium, told HuffPost. 

It can be “refreshing,” he said, for a child to “to escape screens and practice their ability to simply listen.” 

Bianchette also noted that avoiding screens and the blue light they emit at bedtime can lead to better sleep for kids. (The same holds true for adults.)

Kids with ADHD may benefit especially from a device that is audio only. Emily Bly, a psychologist in New York, told HuffPost that she purchased an audio player a few years ago for her son, who has an ADHD diagnosis.

“There’s so much research out right now around the association between screen interaction and executive functioning problems, lower cognitive abilities, problems related to short-term memory, language development,” Bly said. While this research does not prove that screens cause such issues, she feels that the association alone is enough to justify putting limits on kids’ screen time, “because there are no known benefits and plenty of potential risks.” 

“ADHD kids are known to have particular difficulty in managing screens, because they get hyper focused, they feel particularly compelled, and things like device addiction can come up,” Bly said. 

Her son, now 12, still uses the device to play soothing audio music at night and to listen to stories. Bly listens to content alongside her children, she said, and enjoys experiencing a bit of “the old analog days of cassette tapes” and radio. She has recommended the players to her clients as well. 

Robert Roopa, a psychologist living in Ontario, told HuffPost that he has been happy with his purchase of a Yoto Mini for his three children, who at ages 6, 4, and 16 months have had very limited screen exposure — television only.

His kids are able to use the player independently, and it keeps them entertained in critical moments during the day.

“When they wake up early they will often turn to their Yoto player and entertain themselves. They will lie down and listen to their favorite books until we are ready to get them ready for the day,” Roopa said. 

Having a calming activity like listening to stories that is kid-directed and compatible with bedtime routines can be a game-changer for parents. 

Kassie Hanson, a mother of four (ages 6, 4, 2 and 9 months) in Nebraska and a speech-language pathologist, told HuffPost that she wanted the audio player to give her family “a screen-free form of entertainment my kids could utilize for quiet time, or whenever else they liked.” She said they are able to operate the Toniebox independently, and it has proven to be “kid-proof.”

“It even survived being dropped down a flight of stairs,” she said.

Hanson also mentioned listening to stories on the audio player as a good way to build kids’ vocabulary. 

Rupa Robbins, a child psychologist in California and a mother of two (ages 5 and 2 1/2) noted both the support of language development, and the fact that even very young children can turn the players on and select content themselves. “This gives them a sense of independence and control that they crave developmentally,” she said. 

All of the audio content has to be procured by adults, so it comes parent-vetted, allaying concerns that kids will stumble upon inappropriate content, as they are virtually guaranteed to do online.

The Cons 

When I first looked into how these audio players work and realized every bit of content requires its own card or figure, I laughed to myself and recalled all the legos, game pieces, cards and other detritus I found in unlikely places throughout our home when my kids were small. But none of the parents I spoke with mentioned their kids losing track of the cards/figures. What they did bring up was the expense.

Although they evoke the language of screen dangers, the audio players are a product, and, at the end of the day, the companies that produce them want to make a profit. 

While the cost of the device is less than you would pay for a tablet, ongoing purchases are part of the deal. You have to individually buy all of the content on different cards or figures. Each one has specific stories, songs or podcasts that you could likely find similar versions of for free on YouTube or other apps.

“Adding books to your collection can start adding up,” Roopa said. “I have requested my local library to start carrying Yoto books, but I have yet to hear back to see if it’s an option.”

The Toniebox figures — which make a Target display so luring even my 11-year-old was drawn in — can be even pricer. A Disney princess set of 5, for example, is $83.65 on sale.

“I try to make sure that each Tonie I get has a lot of content,” Hanson said. “Some Tonies only have 20-ish minutes of content, but they are the same cost as the Tonies that have over an hour of stories and songs.”

Unlike an iPad, whose infinite content can hold the attention of anyone, audio players hold more appeal for some kids than others.

“My oldest is obsessed,” Hanson said. “She takes it with her while she brushes her teeth, she likes to listen to it while she’s doing crafts, and I’ve even caught her taking it with her when she goes to the bathroom!” Her 4-year-old, however, “only likes it some of the time,” and while the 2-year-old shows little interest in it. “It doesn’t yet hold her attention for long periods of time,” Hanson said. 

“It works better for some children than others,” Robbins said. “I think that children who love music or stories and have vivid imaginations are likely most inclined to enjoy it.”

In other words, a kid who likes to read books will probably like listening to them, too. It’s also possible that a dyslexic kid will find that audio is the way for them to read without the usual frustration. But you might not be able to turn the tastes of a kid who loves video games.

Janice Robinson-Celeste, founder of Successful Black Parenting magazine, told HuffPost that she purchased a Yoto for her grandchildren a few years ago.

“I loved the idea of the children listening to stories and using their imaginations without a screen,” she said. She once used it to play stories during a backyard campout with them, but says that today it mostly functions as a clock in the playroom.

“It’s challenging to maintain a child’s interest when screens are so prevalent. The rapid pace of digital technology easily captures children’s attention and can shorten their focus on other toys and activities,” Robinson-Celeste said.

“They were interested at first, but eventually, the screens won.”