Need help figuring out your new iPad? Just ask Annabelle Peters, a 13-month-old Chicagoan who navigates the Apple tablet with very adult precision, even though she refuses to endorse my skills on LinkedIn.
Her hands may be tiny, but baby Annabelle can take selfies, upload pictures, play games—all while completely ignoring the workplace skills I’ve mastered and listed on my LinkedIn profile. Unbelievable! Just who does this baby think she is?
“Annabelle knows exactly where to go in the iPad—it’s really insane,” gushes mother Rebecca Peters. Annabelle, who cannot control her own bowel movements, has no problem finding her parents’ wedding photos on the family iPad.
“Can you believe it?” laughs her father, James Peters, who has yet to join my professional network despite my pending LinkedIn request. “I was playing with stuffed animals at her age!”
Tiny Annabelle seems to know exactly what she’s doing on the iPad. For example, when I opened her dad’s LinkedIn app to my profile and put it directly in her lap, she changed James’ LinkedIn password, logged out of his account, closed the app, and deleted it. Why do that instead of pressing one little button that says, “Yes, this writer is proficient in Microsoft Office Suite.” What is this damn baby’s deal?
Annabelle’s tech savviness is not totally unique for her age group. Studies show that 45% of children under two years of age can navigate their way around tablet devices. More and more, infants are running circles around their parents and grandparents when it comes to technology. Which begs the question—would Annabelle endorse my skills if I were in a STEM field?
We know baby’s brains are learning connections, but does that mean Annabelle knows that we’ve never worked together and therefore she’s not qualified to comment on my skills?
“The iPad can keep her entertained for hours on end, says Rebecca. “We’ve got to moderate her use or she’ll never get bored.” When asked to comment, Rebecca could not point to any reason why her daughter would purposefully withhold LinkedIn endorsement from me, adding, “Why do you keep asking this? She is a baby.”
But if she’s “just a baby,” why is she so good with iPads? Seriously, what did I ever do to her?
