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I have noticed the same here, I have seen my neighbor letting her 6-8 years old child to play on her phone so the child can stay entertained.
It is a weird thing to see, considering these new phones we see nowadays could be even bigger than the head of the child itself and the side of those handheld devices are not designed to be held by little children.
The problem is that apps are not how they used to be back in the day, they are not about a one-time purchase anymore, the business model have switched to micro-transactions and even worse: loot-boxes, in games are are supposed to be for everyone.
I can even find on Google Scholar several articles suggesting a link between loot boxes and problem gaming, even mental struggles.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306460319301091I believe this situation is now all across the globe as smartphones are easy to access.
A lot of parents are also doing this just letting their kids to use their phone so they can free up themselves.
Yes, they can have free time but they don't know that their kids are learning something that they should not do yet.