Katherine Heigl isn't scared of technology

She said: "The girls are really into iPads. It's not good. I need to curtail it, though I have to say, so much of that use is reading.

They're reading, they're playing educational games. I don't allow them to scroll through YouTube videos and stuff; I put some limits on that.

But it's not as mind-numbing as we all are afraid it is.

"I was like, 'None of us are connecting or communicating.' And then I went, 'Oh, wait a minute - Naleigh and Madison are playing Words With Friends against each other, so essentially they're playing Scrabble, just without the board on the table. Adalaide is coloring on her iPad, Josh is reading the news and I'm reading a book. We're all doing things that we would be doing to entertain ourselves, we're just doing them differently than we did them 20 years ago. It's okay. It's not the end of civilization as we know it, I promise."

However, the 39-year-old actress does have one rule - they can't be used at bedtime and must be charged where she can see them.

She told People magazine: "I don't allow them in the bedrooms, like, 'Charge them at night where I can see them.' Maybe I should have that rule for my husband."