.
This document is FCS2291, one of a series of the Family Youth and Community Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Original publication date December 2008. Reviewed December 2011.Making Good Decisions: Television, Learning, and the Cognitive Development of Young Children
David C. Diehl and Stephanie C. Toelle
"If the television craze continues with the present level of programs, we are destined to have a nation of morons." - Daniel Marsh, 1950
As evidenced by this quote from 1950, Americans have been concerned about the effects of television for more than a half century. From the very beginning, television captured the American imagination and became an important influence in the lives of our families. Today, virtually every family in the U.S. has at least one television and most children and adults alike watch TV on a daily basis.
There is no denying the prevalence of television in our lives and its potential to shape children's learning. Has Daniel Marsh's prediction come true—are we a nation of morons because of television's influence? How does television affect our children? Do children learn from television? Does it affect their school performance? What can parents do to maximize the benefits of television and minimize any harm?
Parents have all of these questions and more as they contemplate how television can help or interfere with their children's learning and academic development. This paper will explore how television affects the learning of young children (ages 0–6) and how it impacts their cognitive development and later academic performance.
Background
While researchers have long been interested in the effects of television on the American family, recent research and policy efforts have increasingly focused on the effects of television on young children. In 1999, The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended that children under two years of age should watch no television at all and that children over two should watch no more than one to two hours of high-quality educational programming.
While content for preschool-age children such as Sesame Street has been around for decades, television and video content designed to reach infants is much newer. During the past decade programs and videos specifically designed for infants have been introduced and popularized, generating sales of about $100 million in 2004. Products such as the Baby Einstein series and Brainy Babies, among others, were specifically designed to reach infants and are marketed as educational materials to optimize child development.
While marketed as educational, there is little scientific evidence that these materials foster learning in very young children. A thorough review of educational media for babies and toddlers concluded that “there are no published studies on cognitive outcomes from any of the educational videos, computer software programs, or video game systems currently on the market for children ages 0–6 years.”
All of this attention means that parents need to think carefully about the role of television in the lives of their infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Parents should proactively create an approach to television watching that works for their family.
Young Children's Television Exposure
Despite the AAP's recommendation that families limit children's television viewing, a recent study found that 83% of children under the age of two use screen media (television, videos, DVDs) on a typical day and 66% of children aged six months to six years watch television every day. Another study found that, on average, children age six and under watch television for more than two hours per day.
While many studies focus on how much children's programming children are watching, others are also starting to emphasize that children are exposed to significant amounts of adult television because the TV is often on in the background. All in all, television and videos are quite common in the lives of young children and can influence their development.
...
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fy1074
