Background Television On The Toy Play Behavior

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The Effects of Background Television on the Toy Play Behavior of Very Young Children
The authors of “The Effects of Background Television on the Toy Play Behavior of Very Young Children,” were seeking proof that adult television is a disruptive influence on very young children. The experiment consisted of fifty 12, 24 and 36 month olds playing with various toys for one hour. One half of the hour the television remained off while the children played with their toys and for the other half of the hour the children attempted to play while the television remained turned on. According to the article, prior studies show background television interferes with a child’s attention span while playing with toys. Playing is to create and promote healthy cognitive and social development (Piaget, 1962), but studies have proven that if television is on whilst playing, a child will fail to learn cognitive and social developmental skills essential to day-to-day life.
Based on the research provided, the study proved that very young children’s toy play was interrupted by background television in comparison to no television. Though the study showed less play overall, shorter play episodes, and shorter bouts of focused attention, there were no dramatic distractions making the television and play a distraction but a small distraction. In conclusion, a visual or auditory change occurs on television every 6 seconds, resulting in a disruption in a child’s play various times for the length of the play time.
According to “The Effects of Background Television on Toy Play Behavior of Very Young Children,” “The overall reduction of play in the presence of background television is likely due to the displacement by looking at the screen” (pg. 1147). A...

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...s attention span or lack of while playing with television sounding in the background will remain the same no matter the cultural differences.
After reading “The Effects of Background Television on the Toy Play Behavior of Very Young Children,” I learned that some television exposure isn’t necessarily a negative doing, toy play with background television can promote multitasking skills and ongoing play time. I also feel as if the study should have included a wider range of ages to see a larger variety of differences in television and its impact on toy play, fortunately children don’t stop playing with toys after 36 months of age. With all given information, I found the topic very interesting considering I have a 19 month old, I think I am going to test this hypothesis out on him and see how many times he is distracted by the television while playing with his toys.

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