In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) first issued a guideline on media exposure for infants (children less than 2 years old). In it, they recommended that “television and other entertainment media” be avoided entirely in that population. (AAP, 1999) As more and more studies examining this subject were conducted and their findings released, the AAP considered the evidence and the AAP stood by its guidelines in 2011. (Brown, 2011) Given TV and screen media’s pervasive penetration in American culture, their potential benefits and damages in children’s development are paramount. As such, the AAP’s guidelines, and the weight they carry, need to be continually assessed and evaluated. This paper will argue that the AAP’s recommendation should be upheld for infants (under age 2) because screen-based entertainment media are pedagogically ineffective and displace much-needed social interaction. I will review literature discussing the effectiveness and impact of television and screen media, and then explore the critical role of social interaction in infants’ developmental process.
Educational TV programs and DVDs targeted at infants have proven to be largely ineffective at improving infants’ word and language acquisition. Counting the number of new words learned by an infant is a good way to quantify the effectiveness of their word acquisition. A study conducted by DeLoache et al. exposed 12- to 18-month old infants to large amounts of popular, infant-targeted programming for 4 weeks at home aimed to evaluate the impact of this programming on infants’ word learning. (DeLoache, 2010) Prior to and following the 4-week exposure period, children were asked to point at certain objects that were featured in the video. The childre...
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...television scenario. Child development, 74(1), 221-237.
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Zimmerman, F.J., Christakis, D.A., & Meltzoff, A.N. (2007). Associations between media viewing and language development in children under age 2 years. Journal of Pediatrics, 151(4), 364-368.
Television is a distraction for children and can hurt their cognitive abilities if they watch too much because it is non interactive. In the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity Helena Duch and colleagues mentioned that the American Academy of Pediatrics advises, “parents avoid exposing children 2 and under to screen media, a nationally representative survey found that 68% of children under the age of 2 use screen media in a typical day, and that average screen time was 2.05 hours per day” (Dutch et al 2). Children live in a world full of screens, ranging from iPhones, TVs, to tablets and computers. Drastic brain development occurs during the ages of 1-3 and exposing them to too much screen time of any kind can have negative effects on them (Hopkins 27). Putting them in front of a screen also steals away from times they could be talking, playing, and interacting with their surroundings. Pediatrician Dr. Michael Rich claims that shows d...
...an be useful at certain age ranges, it does not appear that baby educational media works. Infants learn the best with their parents are the ones teaching them. The research done by DeLoache and colleagues (2010) and Krcmar and colleagues (2007) demonstrate this. The truth of the matter is that since the dawn of man, parents have always been there teaching their children to survive. Whether it was hunting, walking, or speaking, the interaction between the parent and the child will always be paramount in the child’s development. From the time they are born, babies see their parents, not the television, and it is from that moment that the child looks to their care giver for guidance. Perhaps as technology improves, and television becomes more interactive will we see a difference in how well these types of programs work, but for now nothing beats the real thing.
The most popular method for educators at the centre to build on children’s comments and conversations is by talking with them, particularly by talking through processes or experiences as they are happening. With infants this process of talking through experiences and processes seems more like narration. Spending time in the infant room feels solidary as I talk to myself for most of the day, however it is important to remind myself that the child is learning through my one-sided conversations. Baby’s language develops socially, they listen to those speaking around them and then begin to internalise the words that are high frequency (Clarke, 2004). As they develop their vocabulary grows as they build their repertoire through socialisation. Research
Thompson, R. A., & Nelson, C. A. (2001). Developmental Science and the Media: Early Brain Development. American Psychologist, 56(1), 5-15.
In “Television Harms Children”, Ann Vorisek White claims that the intellectual and cognitive development of children who frequently watch television is threatened. To support this claim, she points to the findings that “the more television children watch, the weaker their language skills and imaginations” (White, 2006). Before the brain fully matures around age 12, it is in the stage of rapid development. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) “recommends that children under the age of two not watch TV or videos, and that older children watch only one to two hours per day of nonviolent, educational TV” (White, 2006). A study from the AAP (as cited in White, 2006) found that the average American child watches four hours of television every day. Considering "expression and reasoning are not automatic" abilities, young children who routinely watch television eventually become "passive and nonverbal" to stimuli in their environment (White, 2006). Since the normality of curiosity and imaginations of young children are the foundation of how they learn, remaining passive for extended periods of time affects their intellectual and moral development.
Television has become a big part in children’s day-to-day lives especially in the 20th century. Children in this century rely on television to keep them entertained and educated instead of entertaining and educating themselves by participating in activities, which will teach them a lot more in life then the actual television. There is no doubt that children are most easily influenced by television because of the different content that they watch as well as the amount of time consumed watching TV. The television does have an emotional and intellectual development on children but this all depends on the content that they’re watching and the way that they absorb the information that the show is trying to send out. Different programs will portray
Soderstrom, M. (2007). Beyond baby talk: Re-evaluating the nature and content of speech input to preverbal infants. Developmental Review, 27(4), 501-532.
To continue, everyone can agree that children need a healthy environment to develop cognitive, social, emotional, physical and linguistic development. How much technology can improve or distract from these essential skills varies with age. The impact and implications of technology tools on young children has been studied and researched through the Let’s Move Childcare initiative and results concluded that little to no “screen time” is preferred for children under the age of two. For children two years or older, the recommended “screen time” is limited to thirty minutes per week in the classroom setting. (White House, 2011.)
Without a doubt, television is the central and principal form of communication in many people’s lives. This form is most often exposed to a child who instantly becomes accustomed to its presence. Children are televisions largest audience, as Morris shows, “Children aged two to five look at the TV tube on an average of 28.4 hours a week; those between the ages of six and eleven average 23.6 hours a week”. Television has played an important role in many children’s lives and its viewing has been a favorite activity for many of them. The effects of television on children have been disputed. Some people have said that viewing time has a negative impact on children. Other people, however, feel that the early educational television productions for children help tehm learn.
'Television also conditions a child to dual stimui: sound and images.';(Neural Activity and the Growth of the Brain) The constant and rapidly changing sound and images can condition a child to expect the level of televisions in other situations. The problem with this is that in school children are called upon to speak, to listen, to work some problems, or read, and none of these tasks contain the 'dual stimula'; that children expect from television. Dr. Hinto...
Pitman, S. (2008, August). The impact of media technologies on child development and wellbeing. Retrieved from http://www.ozchild.org.au/userfiles/docs/ozchild/research-papers/ImpactOfElectronicMedia.pdf
How TV Affects your Child? Kids Health. October 2011. Web. The Web.
Parents need to know when their child is exposed to media parent involvement that includes positive guidance on appropriate use of all media that includes internet, music, television, and video games. All media has the possibility to develop positive and negative effects on children and adolescents. Depending on the child’s developmental stage determines if the effect will be
Language is crucial to young children’s development; it is essential for learning and communicating with others. Children learn most effectively through being involved in rich experiences and practical activities promoted through play, and adults need to join this play talking with and listening to them. There have been several theories about how young children acquire language. Some argued that the environment is an important factor, while others state that language is innate and that environment has a minor role in shaping knowledge.
Education is the one of priorities in life for most parents. Previous generation, which is the generation x born between 1961-1981 has pressure on the Millenial Generation. The money is the most important variable that specifies the quality of life for them. So the Generation X pushes their children to graduate from a qualified colleague to have high life standards (How Young People View Their Lives Futures and Politics A PORTRAIT OF “GENERATION NEXT” (2007) by Andrew Kohut, Kim Parker, Scott Keeter, Carroll Doherty, Michael Dimock ). Especially parents, thinks in the same way with Balogum and he describes it as a key that “... unlocks the door of development and modernization...” in the idea of an educated person in contemporary African thought(117). This thought points out that parents think of the child’s future when forcing children to go to school. Also Balogum state that “...the concept of ‘education’ and ‘educated person’ are both common in all cultures”(118). Although both are familiar for people for people, most people may confuse these two claims and there is a link between them. Education is a lifelong process so being an educated man is connected with the developmental process. Also to have education there is no age limit. Balgum point that “...from womb to the tomb”(120) totally fits the previous sentence. The author supports his ideas by saying that “ In Rome, an educated person was a person who was a good orator and one who excelled in the military training...”(112). This example shows that in ancient times people who had various jobs were educated. Oth...