I'm with ultramarina on this. We have an iphone, ipad and computer all of which DS 5 is allowed to use - but they aren't his. And he knows this. He knows he has to ask to use it and that the apps he is allowed to use are chosen by me. However, he has never been addicted and unwilling to stop so this hasn't been too hard to manage. When he asks we rarely say no because its only one option among many.
He also has never chosen to surf youtube or online by himself. I have not forbidden it but I have not encouraged it either. He knows there are a ton of bookmarked webpages for him to go to. We also get websites from his teacher occasionally which have been enjoyable. I have treated it like TV, he isn't allowed to go an turn it on and just plop down in front of it - he has to ask. Conversely, everything in his room he can use whenever he wants, no restrictions.
So I am not worried about him being net-illiterate - he gets some of it in school too - I am more concerned with him thinking its the only way to get new information. At this point I would say his focus is much more on books as a source of information, he might place apps as a higher source of fun, but he might not.
And we started this with him using Starfall at 2.5 - he loved it and sometimes would not want to get off - so we decided how we wanted to approach it then and have pretty much stuck with it.
DeHe
