Research about babes and TV?

[allisonrose]

This might have been asked before but I didn't manage to get the right words together for a search. I want to see research on why TV is so ill-advised for the under-two crowd. My hubby is not compelled to see why I want to avoid TV for our lo. So please share the best info out there.

And if anyone has come across anything that has a glint of hope for the other side, I wouldn't mind seeing that either.

Thanks!

[annettemarie]

I'm going to move this to Life with a Babe.

[porcelina]

I recently read the book "Nurture Shock." They present evidence that shows that babies who are shown Baby Einstein videos are actually less verbal and have lower cognitive abilities than those who are not. The explanation is that babies learn from responsiveness and interaction with people, not from sitting in front of the tv.

For toddlers, there are studies showing that kids who watch "kids" shows, from Sesame Street to Sponge Bob, actually have more emotionally aggressive (name-calling, leaving people out, that kind of stuff) behavior than even those kids who watch violent television (who, not surprisingly, are more physically aggressive). Apparently, what they think is going on is that the kids shows are meant to "teach a lesson," so a character goes around doing something "bad/wrong" the whole episode, and then learns at the end that it was bad/wrong. While adults follow this logic, young children simply see the bad behavior modeled over and over again, so are more likely to repeat it. Apparently, Sponge Bob has something like 40 instances of emotional aggression in about 30 minutes.

Furthermore, the book "the Pediatrician's Bible" says that kids who watch a lot of tv at age 2 then tend to have nightmares about some of the stuff they saw at age 3, tending to develop fears of things they didn't understand before and images they saw. No evidence is actually presented, however.

That said, I think there are programs that help kids learn. My son has watched the songs on Sesame street (we recorded a select few, like the Alphabet song) and definitely learned to sing the alphabet at age 22 months or so thanks to that, and he has since really learned all of the capital letters thanks to watching Super Why with his babysitter. (I'm a little concerned about the appropriateness of that show, since they discuss books which may have scary aspects, like the 3 pigs, for example). One show I truly love is Dora -- my son gets some Spanish, which we speak at home along with English, but all of the shows are about problem solving, and there are no negative behaviors or really scary situations.

[batsister]

I remember seeing a study that showed that when TV is on in the background, infants play with individual toys for less time than when it's not (as though they are distracted, I guess), but I don't remember the article title/authors.

That said, we are guilty of having the TV on sometimes when our almost 9 month old is present. I rarely turn the TV on during the day when we are home, but in the evenings it is on some as he crawls around, plays, etc. I tend to think (and hope) this is not as bad as putting on kids' show for him to watch (which we do not do), but who knows.

[tracysroberts]

There are great books out there on this topic with lots of research in them. I used many of these for my workshops I presented on the effects of television.
My favorites are:
Endangered Minds by Jane Healy
and Parenting Well in a Media Age by Gloria DeGaetano

You can tell your husband that even the AAP recommends no TV under 2 years old.

[Norasmomma]

YK-I have to say in a NORMAL household where the TV may be on at times and a young baby may be sitting with parents while they are watching TV I think it is not as a huge a deal as those who do these "studies" would have you believe. Sure if you are constantly plopping your kids in front of the boob tube and never interacting with them well of course they will have less cognitive/verbal skills.

I have to say my DD watched Baby Einstein and she did in fact learn from them(gasp!). We did sign with her and one of her DVDs was different signs she learned swing, and a couple others I cannot remember, we weren't the ones who taught her those. She is highly verbal and I don't believe they put her behind in any way. She's a vibrant 3 year old with a huge vocabulary and imagination, and she does watch TV now and then.

Now am I a proponent for TV watching, ummmm now, but I just never trust most of the studies put out there, you'll always find someone who will agree with whatever point you want to make be it good or bad.

[Jaesun's Dad]

Originally Posted by Norasmomma

YK-I have to say in a NORMAL household where the TV may be on at times and a young baby may be sitting with parents while they are watching TV I think it is not as a huge a deal as those who do these "studies" would have you believe.

I concur. I'm the anti-TV person in our house but I know that DP watches a heck of a lot of it. I wish it wasn't on so much, but he gets a lot of interaction from both of us. We try not to make it so he can see the screen too much, but of course even with his back to it he'll hear the tv.

@ studies - My career has been pretty deep in statistical analysis. I've literally studied studies. Do you know that you can prove anything? Sure you can! All you need is a study to prove it. If the result doesn't match the thesis just rework the criteria, regroup the sample groupings, round up or down a little bit and ... presto! Point made! Yes, I've been asked to rework, regroup and round more times than I care to tell. Most of the time I can talk sense into people ... </must stop now before I write a dissertation>

Anyway I think, yeah, tv can be bad but it's not inherently as bad as often claimed. As he gets older I certainly want to filter out what's on more and more. The tv may be on more than I care for it to be, but if he has lots of quality tv-free time with both mom and dad I think that's more important than limiting tv. Our little guy is very social and is very "talkative" for his young age already. To be blunt the little dude's a flirt and works the room, making eye contact and smiling at everyone. He's very alert, so tv certainly is not turning our guy into an anti-social zombie ...

... and after all that I'll still be advocating the off button for the next umpteen years :-)

[akind1]

we do watch tv in our house - not as much as we used to, but still - DS loved the lights when he was smaller but now doesn't seem to pay it much attention, he is far more entranced with his feet!

I think the issue is not really parents watching tv and LO being in the room, it is parking the kid in front of the TV expecting them to pay attention and be distracted soley by that. The only TV that DS seems to really enjoy/pay any attention to (he's almost 5 months old) is the CMT we watch in the mornings sometimes and he loves the Singing Bee, and really any show that shows some cleavage - he loved watching the cheerleaders at the SuperBowl! LOL

we don't watch any kid programs as I can't stand them, I don't think he would be able to benefit from them either. FIL put DS down in front of a kiddie program and DS cried! I thought it was funny!

bottom line, I guess, is TV should be limited, but as long as baby has plenty of meaningful interaction with other adults and children I really think the verbal and social skills will be fine

[red and lulu]

into the minds of babes is a great book, too. it's written by a mom, and addresses the tv issue very diplomatically i think (ie. it's not all "tv is the root of all evil")... she presents some interesting data and theories, and leaves room for you to decide what you think is best, imo.

[lkmiscnet]

I second the book "Into the Minds of Babes: How Screen Time Affects Children from birth to age 5". I just read it from the library.

It was well written and provided tons of research studies and summarized the studies.

It also touts studies that recommend a handful of TV programs that are actually beneficial for children around age 2.5 years like Sesame Street, Blues Clues and Dora the Explorer, and explains why they are good.

Background TV was indicated to have the most negative effect. I think mainly due to your child not being able to focus on real person human speech since part of their brain is listening to the TV too. Delays in speech and accuracy in pronunciation were noted.

[allisonrose]

Originally Posted by Jaesun's Dad

@ studies - My career has been pretty deep in statistical analysis. I've literally studied studies. Do you know that you can prove anything? Sure you can! All you need is a study to prove it. If the result doesn't match the thesis just rework the criteria, regroup the sample groupings, round up or down a little bit and ... presto! Point made! Yes, I've been asked to rework, regroup and round more times than I care to tell. Most of the time I can talk sense into people ... </must stop now before I write a dissertation>

I don't have an extensive background in stats but dabbled a bit in it in college. I know that numbers can be manipulated and usually come out proving the point of the funder. I think that our society would so much love to see TV proven safe, benign, or even beneficial for little ones that it says a lot that the studies do not come out that way.

porcelina - That's a great point about shows trying to teach a lesson by showing undesireable behaviors.

tracysroberts - I have made no secret of that AAP's standing.

I will consider checking into some of the books recommended. (Unfortunately I will never manage to convince my hubby to sit down and read any of them.)

[Megan73]

Originally Posted by allisonrose

I think that our society would so much love to see TV proven safe, benign, or even beneficial for little ones that it says a lot that the studies do not come out that way.

Exactly. Disney would have loved it if research hadn't debunked their claims that Baby Einstein helps babies learn. Despite their billions, research has shown babies don't benefit from so-called educational videos.
There are some great resources here: http://www.commercialfreechildhood.o...es/babies.html

[Bena]

Originally Posted by lkmiscnet

Background TV was indicated to have the most negative effect. I think mainly due to your child not being able to focus on real person human speech since part of their brain is listening to the TV too. Delays in speech and accuracy in pronunciation were noted.

So that would include the radio too?

Aargh...the radio is on all the time when I'm home alone! (talk radio too, not a music show...We don't have a TV, and CBC is my connection to the world!! Yea, I'm geeky!!)

[gracemamma]

Another vote for Into the Minds of Babes, How screen time affects children from birth to age 5, Lisa Guernsey- excellent book.

[sunshadow]

Yet another vote for "Into the Minds of Babes" It talks about TV without being entirely anti-TV. There is one I also really thought was helpful, but is more anti-TV called "Parenting Well in the Media Age". The real problem with TV under 2 imo is it's affect on vocabulary development. As far as learning from media, sure they can, but the reality is they learn much faster from a real person. If you show your child how to sign a word, for example, they will learn it from you quicker. They may learn it from the DVD also, but it will take longer. That extra time they are spending learning one skill could be used to learn other skills, or to just play and use their imagination.

[Mulvah]

Originally Posted by Bena

So that would include the radio too?

Aargh...the radio is on all the time when I'm home alone! (talk radio too, not a music show...We don't have a TV, and CBC is my connection to the world!! Yea, I'm geeky!!)

I'm curious about this, too. Anyone know if the book addressed it? I almost always have music on in the background, and although usually classical, sometimes I change it up.

[Norasmomma]

I guess my point was yes she did learn a sign we weren't teaching her, at that time my DD already was well developed with her signing, so learning swing was just one thing that she had learned from a DVD.

I think that my problem with many of these types of threads is that if you even remotely let your LO watch any TV when they are babies(or young children) that they will be doomed to have terrible vocabularies and be deficient in language areas, sure if you never interact with them and put them in front of the TV all day, yes that will happen. For me I guess I'm just a moderation person, I just don't believe it's an all or nothing thing. Also I find it funny that in a situation like this the AAPs recommendations are taken seriously, but then when you get into WBV, vaccinations, circ, etc.....oh the AAP is wrong on so many levels. I guess I just always find that ironic. Like I stated before, I am not a TV proponent, but I do have to say that 20 minutes that my DD watched a DVD helped our household so much, but I guess if you have a non-stop child who never gives you a break ever, you learn to compromise.

[akind1]

Norasmomma - I agree totally! I am a moderation person, and I think that this, as with so many things we parents choose for our children, to each his/her own. what works well for me and mine may not do for you and yours; I do know that already my LO is fascinated by technology; he loves the computer keyboard, and both our cell phones, and the TV - even though he is not in front of it all that often. Did we not have those things, I am sure he'd find something else. But we do have, and he does love!

[GreenGranolaMama]

I also want to add another "What do you think about background radio?"

I'm a SAHM and DH works pretty long hours some days- we've had music on in the background pretty much every moment that I'm home alone with 12mo DS. I listen mostly to folk/new age/ funk/ jam and that sort of genre- I don't feel like I can help DS get super excited about 'dancing' with me right now because having music on isn't something super special for us- it's the norm! What do you think? Good? Bad? Neither?

[Oztok5]

I'm bumping with hope that some mamas who have researched this more will have information about background radio.