Kids and TV screen time
p2pnet news | tv:- Get ‘em young, and the younger the better.
It’s an axiom that’s fundamental to all advertising, not to mention entertainment and software cartel marketing and ‘educational’ propaganda operations.
After all, children are impressionable and many parents are playing into the hands of anyone who’s trying to influence on, implies a report in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
How young is young?
“By 3 months of age, about 40% of children regularly watched television, DVDs, or videos,” say Frederick J. Zimmerman, Dimitri A. Christakis,and Andrew N. Meltzoff, going on:
By 24 months, this proportion rose to 90%. The median age at which regular media exposure was introduced was 9 months. Among those who watched, the average viewing time per day rose from 1 hour per day for children younger than 12 months to more than 1.5 hours per day by 24 months. Parents watched with their children more than half of the time. Parents gave education, entertainment, and babysitting as major reasons for media exposure in their children younger than 2 years.
Conclusion?
“Parents should be urged to make educated choices about their children’s media exposure,” says the report.
“Parental hopes for the educational potential of television can be supported by encouraging those parents who are already allowing screen time to watch with their children.”
Also See:
Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine – Extensive Television Viewing and the Development of Attention and Learning Difficulties During Adolescence, Vol. 161 No. 5, May 2007
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July 6th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Why do they have to lump TV and DVD’s/Videos in together??? There’s a world of difference! My kid watched exclusively EDUCATIONAL DVD’s and Videos from an early age (and far more than the recommended amount). Now, with some parental involvement, she’s at the top of her class in literacy.
July 7th, 2007 at 5:43 am
We homeschool ourl daughter and she, too, has watched carefully selected videos and DVDs since she was a baby, almost. However, that was supplemented with TV viewing – shows such as The Nature of Things, and so on. That’s all the TV was/is used for, other than The Simpsons of course
Until fairly recently, we always made a point of watching with her so we could explain things when necessary. She’s now nearly 11 but we still watch most of these DVD/video/TV programmes together more often than not because we enjoyed them as much and she does : )
Cheers!
July 8th, 2007 at 8:26 am
I think your children will have a greater quality of life using those learning paradigms. It’s unfortunate that alot of parents don’t get involved with their childrens education at such an early age, as it’s critical for future development.