Two-year-olds can’t do much. They can’t walk that well. They can’t tie their shoes. The potty is, for many of them, still a mysterious and frightening whooshing machine. Yet they’re right at home with Mommy and Daddy’s iPad.

According to Common Sense Media, 38 percent of kids under the age of 2 are using tablet computers or smartphones. That’s up four times from three years ago, and some companies already are capitalizing on tech-savvy toddlers. Fisher Price recently released what it calls its Newborn-to-Toddler Apptivity Seat, a bouncy chair that includes straps that hold a tablet in front of the baby’s face.

Fisher Price was criticized widely for the product, perhaps with good reason. Many child development experts wonder whether babies should be exposed to screens and technology.

“The bottom line is that it’s so new we don’t know if it’s good, bad or otherwise,” says Tovah Klein, director for the Barnard College Center for Toddler Development, “but there is a lot of other research that shows the main learning and sustenance for young children—particularly under 2—comes from their relationships, particularly with their parents and whoever takes care of them.” (New York Daily News)

Paul Asay has covered religion for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for Plugged In and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He lives in Colorado Springs with wife, Wendy, and his two children. Follow him on Twitter.