There is substantial evidence that suggests mobile phone use during parenting is detrimental to children. 

As the evidence that digital device use while parenting leads to lower quality parent-child interactions and even to mental health and behavioural problems gathers, I sought a way to help children get the attention of their parents with the help of IoT technology.

The conceptual device I designed looks like nothing more than a box with a large, clear plastic button mounted to it. The button houses individually addressable LEDs.  The device is capable of producing a variety of light shows via its micro-controlled LEDs and of generating a simple SMS text message by way of a single board computer connected to the internet that is housed inside the box. The SMS text generated by the computer will read: " Come read me a story please." 

This device does generate an LED light show each time the button is pressed but it only generates SMS text messages according to a variable ratio schedule. Variable ratio schedules reinforce a response after an unpredictable number of responses and are used in gambling and lottery games to create a steady, high rate of responding. Reinforcement is essentially a rule stating which instances of a behaviour will be reinforced. In the case of this device, the behaviour I wish to reinforce is simply the continued pressing of the button. A child using this device will have no way of knowing how many times they have to press the button before they win some storytime with their caregiver/s. All they will know is that eventually, after pressing the button enough times, their caregiver may reward them with a story. In order to sustain the attention of the child, the button lights up differently with each press and as time goes on the lighting patterns become more elaborate. The device rewards the child for their sustained attention by way of these increasingly elaborate light shows made possible by individually addressable LEDs housed within the clear plastic button. 

Addiction is a brain disease caused by sustained exposure to drugs. The sensitization of brain dopamine systems in part mediates the effect of sustained exposure to drugs. Pathological gambling, which is a behavioural addiction may be caused by chronic exposure to gambling. Simply put, if you gamble too much you can become addicted to it. 

Storytime Button uses LED light shows to elicit the expectancy of a reward in a child. Like the spinning reels on a slot machine, the programmed LED lights on this device serve as cues that a reward may be on its way. When the device is idle, the lights inside the large plastic button remain in a static on configuration. Once the button is pressed, the device blinks its lights in an interesting pattern and either sends a text message to  a caregiver's phone or does not. 

When a button press on the device actually generates a text message, it also generates an elaborate light show via individually addressable LEDs that indicate a reward (the caregiver coming to read a story) is on the way. When a button press does not result in the generation of a text message, a light show is still displayed but in these instances the light shows are less elaborate. Text messages and are triggered after x number of button presses. The number x is reset to a different value each time a text is generated. This introduces a sense of randomness to the object. Each button press results in the display of a different light show but does not necessarily result in a text being sent out. The more time a child spends pushing the button, the greater the likelihood of a reward, either in the form of a new light show or more excitingly, their caregiver/s attention. The only currency this game accepts is your child’s attention.