Posted on 05/25/2006 7:23:05 AM PDT by presidio9
Eight in 10 of the nation's youngest children — babies up to age 6 — watch TV, play video games or use the computer for about two hours on a typical day. A third live in homes where the TV is on most of the time.
Even for the littlest tots, TV in the bedroom isn't rare: 19 percent of babies under 2 have one despite urging from the American Academy of Pediatrics that youngsters not watch any television at that age.
So concludes a new study that highlights the immense disconnect between what child-development specialists advise and what parents allow.
"My reasoning was that my little boy was extremely intelligent since birth. At 1 year old, he was putting his own DVDs in, skipping scenes," one mother of a preschooler told researchers with the Kaiser Family Foundation. "I thought it was a real good thing for him to have his own TV because TV helped him grow at a very young age."
The number of youngsters glued to the screen hasn't changed much since the foundation's first report on the topic in 2003.
But in Wednesday's follow-up, Kaiser asked parents — in a survey and in focus-group sessions — why they and their children use TV and other electronic media the way they do.
"I had this sense of kids clamoring to use media and parents trying to keep their finger in the dam," lead researcher Victoria Rideout said. "I found that not to be a very accurate picture in most cases."
Instead, a generation of parents raised on TV is largely encouraging the early use of television, video games and computers by their own children.
These parents say TV and computer games teach the ABCs and how to share when they don't have the time. Television provides time for parents to cook or take a shower. They use screen time as a reward or, paradoxically, to help kids wind down at bedtime.
"There's this enthusiasm and tremendous lack of concern" about media use, Rideout said.
Where some parents limited scary shows or video games, others found youngsters unfazed. "It's something gory, but it doesn't seem to bother her," said a California mother whose toddler joined her on the couch for "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."
Another mother told Kaiser she stopped watching "ER" reruns when her preschooler tried to give her little brother CPR.
"What is the impact on little kids of watching shows like 'CSI' or 'ER'?" asked Rideout. "I don't think we know the answer to that. I don't know that people really realized that kind of viewing was going on to the degree I think it is."
The report by the California-based foundation, which analyzes health care issues, comes at a time of great debate about youngsters' use of TV and other multimedia. Just last week, specialists called together by the National Institutes of Health urged more research on how electronic media affect children at different ages.
The pediatrics group recommends no TV or other electronic media for kids younger than 2 — advice that just 26 percent of parents followed, Kaiser found — and no more than two hours of total "screen time" daily for older children.
The organization is not anti-TV, said Dr. Daniel Broughton of the Mayo Clinic, who co-wrote the academy's recommendations. But before age 2 is time of the brain's most rapid development, and interaction — live give-and-take that TV cannot provide — is crucial during that period, he said.
Some studies also link TV watching at younger ages to attention disorders.
After age 2, the idea is to balance a little TV with riding bikes, playing with friends, household chores and the other activities of childhood, Broughton said.
Media should be used more wisely than as a babysitter, added Dr. Dimitri Christakas of the University of Washington.
"People have made dinner for millenia, but we've only had television for 50 years," he said. "Television's not inherently good or bad. ... The real goal now has to be not to de-technologize childhood, but how to optimize children's experiences" with it.
In addition to the focus groups, the Kaiser report is based on results of a national telephone survey last fall of 1,051 parents of children from age 6 months to 6 years. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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Some pretty old babies.
Ah...these people should get over themselves...sheesh.
"most of the time"?
We spend one third of our life asleep. Children ofter 5 spend up to another third of their day at school while adults typically spend over a third of their day at work.
That leaves one third of the day for someone to be home (apart from small children, homeschooled, houseeives, unemployed, self-employed, sick, and retired).
So is the "most" part of "most of" that remaining one third of the day or is it greater than that?
Also with a consumer trend to paying monthly for 50-500 channels, does it make sense to pay for cable (including 24 hour "breaking news" channels) if you are going to leave the idiot box off?
And why classify video games and computers along with television? Television is the only one that is not interactive (unless you calling yelling at the tv an activity).
When people start reading e-books in volume, will we still be hearing how long people spend in front of some sort of electronic display? Why not include cellphone texting time?
What is the impact on adults of watching shows like 'The West Wing', 'The View', of the 'CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite, The Most Trusted Man In America"?
I was really hoping the television would do a better job of raising him.
That ought to be disturbing to the mother. I missed alot of things when my kids were little, but I never thought that my desire to be entertained trumped what I thought was good for my kids.
susie
"...paying monthly for 50-500 channels, does it make sense to pay for cable (including 24 hour "breaking news" channels) if you are going to leave the idiot box off?"
Ha! It makes better since not to pay and use rabit ears, CDs, the internet, and not so financially obligate ourselves to having to watch so much drivel in order to get our money's worth.
My pet peeve is people who have their TVs going when hosting a party or are entertaining guests. I've been guilty of it before but the "idiot box" is just so distracting to civilized conversation.
"They use screen time as a reward or, paradoxically, to help kids wind down at bedtime."
I completely agree with the author's term, paradoxically.
Geez, I don't even sleep well after watching TV. Reading a book is a much better option and it actually works.
There are perks to not letting your child watch TV. No Barney!!!
When we got married, my wife and I didn't get a TV. We did have a VCR (which can receive TV signals) and an old computer monitor with sound. Hence, we had the equivalent of a TV but the reception was horrible since we had a crummy antenna. We rarely watched it.
We did rent videos but not very often.
When the kids came along, they were always busy doing things and didn't watch it. In fact, they complained that when they went to a friend's house all the kid wanted to do was sit and watch TV.
The kids saw TV at other kids' houses and knew all the buzz words kids needed to know so other kids wouldn't think they were weird. We sometimes watched Cleveland Browns and Notre Dame football, but that was it.
Again, we rented videos for the kids, but not often.
During high school, they didn't watch it. Now two are out of college. My oldest lives on his own and doens't have a TV. My daughter is still at home and doesn't watch it.
I am thoroughly amazed at how important certain TV shows are to so many people. What a huge chunk of life passes them by as they sit and watch other people live their lives. They must wonder, "What did people DO 100 years ago without TV??"
I wish I had a gaggle of opininated scientists around to do everything right all the time.
They sat around and gossiped.
Could be.
People also got more sleep. You can look at that as a plus or as a sign that they had nothing better to do than sleep.
Another thing to keep in mind is that before the advent of refrigeration and prepared foods, a substantial part of a woman's day was spent just preparing and storing food. Before spinning and weaving machines, a substantial part of their day was also spent making thread and clothing. Men spent a lot more time working. In some ways, TV fills in a vacuum left by an easier life.
There 's a whole medical/physiological speculation on the use of electric lighting and its implications. Increased cortisol levels. Mental health deterioration. Use of night-lights. Decreased influence of seasons, etc.
Interesting stuff.
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