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Television, Videos, and Babies
By Cynthia A. Frosch, PhD
For many parents of young children, television is a big part of daily life. Whether it is PBS, The Disney Channel, or assorted DVDs such as Brainy BabyTM, Baby EinsteinTM, or Clifford, babies are receiving airtime. What is interesting here is that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends NO television for children under 2. But the research on babies and TV suggests otherwise.
Dr. Sophia Pierroutsakos is one of the researchers who has been studying young children’s understanding of television and video. She and her colleagues have conducted several studies looking at the viewing habits of babies and toddlers and how young children interact with television and other 2-dimensional representations or images of the “real” world.
In a study of 100 families with infants under the age of 2, Dr. Pierroutsakos and her colleagues found that television and/or video is on with an infant present for an average of 117.7 minutes each day. That’s almost two hours, on average. And of that time, infants are actually “attending to” or paying attention to the TV or video for an average of 57.91 minutes — almost one hour a day. Now remember that these are children under the age of 2. In addition, families owned an average of 6.19 videos for their infants and the majority of families reported that their infants even had favorite TV shows, characters, and videos.
Dr. Pierroutsakos and her colleagues also found that parents reported specific responses from their infants while watching television. For example, 70% of parents reported that their infants tended to become less fussy when watching television or that their infants become very focused while watching TV (55%).
Beliefs and Factors Related to Television Viewing
So why is it that TV/video is such a regular part of young children’s lives? One reason is that many parents belief that television is beneficial to the child. And in fact, Dr. Pierroutsakos found that 72% of the families in their study belief that television is beneficial for their babies. Parents believe that watching television stimulates the baby’s thinking, supports vocabulary growth, and conveys information.
Other factors related to television viewing include the age of the infant, the number of televisions in the home, and the age of other siblings in the home. Overall, older infants watched more videos each week, and more TV in the home meant more television time with the baby present. And finally, the older the siblings were in the home, the more the television was on each week with the baby present in the room.
Aside from parental beliefs about the intellectual benefits of television for young children, and family characteristics, I think another reason babies watch television and videos is purely practical. I think for many parents, the desire to take a shower, take care of household chores and meal preparation, or complete a phone conversation or email (relatively) uninterrupted could be a motivating factor for turning on the television or popping in a video. Knowing that a child could be happily engaged with a video and believing that there may actually be learning benefits to the viewing are added boosts. A contented child and a satisfied parent may go hand-in-hand along with video/TV viewing.
I would like to see researchers examine parents’ reports of what they gain from their children watching television and videos. Time alone? A break from sibling conflict? Rest for non-napping or fussing children? Relief from boredom? When my child was 3 ½, he rarely napped and the afternoon hours in the Texas heat could seem so long. For me, popping in his favorite alphabet video translated into rest time for me where I could recharge for the rest of the day. And that brings me back to logistics – television and video may just be that extra set of hands to help out during the day. Perhaps a way to redirect our children and/or ourselves from boredom, frustration, unpleasant emotions, or isolation.
More television means less time for reading…
But what do parents beliefs and practices about television/video and babies mean for the daily lives of infants? In one study, Dr. Pierroutsakos and her colleagues found that infants and toddlers were read to an average of 25.4 minutes per day. Now compare that to the average of almost 58 minutes per day that infants are watching television. And the more mothers watched TV, especially to “relax,” the less infants were likely to be read to each day. So the practice of television viewing may also mean less time spent in reading interactions.
Would babies rather watch TV or “live” events?
Curious as to how young babies responded to watching television vs. live action, Dr. Marissa Diener collaborated with Dr. Pierroutsakos and others to find out the answer. Their team conducted two experiments to determine how 9 and 10-month-old infants first responded to video and then to “live” action of the same video events. They found that infant were emotionally responsive to both the video and live events — expressing fear, positive emotion and interest. However, almost all of the babies in the experiment looked longer at the live events and reached more towards the live action than to the video events. The live action events also created stronger emotional responses in the babies – both positive and negative. And overall, the babies who showed the most fear or positive emotion in response to the live action events also showed the most fear or positive emotion in responsive to the video – suggesting the role of temperament in responses to video and live events. In the second experiment, the researchers showed the video and live events at the same time. They found that infants actually preferred to look at live presentation of toys and events than video of the same toys and events. In fact, infants spent 80% of their time looking at the “real” presentation as opposed to the video.
Real Life Options and Alternatives
In The READY Method, Dr. Margaret Owen and I talk about the importance of gentle, responsive caregiving. Our assertion is that children develop best in the context of supportive relationships. While television and video appear to be an integral part of young children’s lives, the research described here indicates that babies prefer “real life” to video. Background television can pull children’s away from their play so consider reserving television/video viewing to specific times of the day or week. It may be helpful to look at your own motivations and beliefs regarding infant and toddler television viewing and consider ways to extend your child’s television and video experience to the real world. For example, if your child’s favorite character goes to the zoo in one episode, consider a trip to the zoo for you and your child. You can also consider viewing a favorite program together – using the video or television time as an opportunity to share contact, closeness, and conversation. And be sure to build in plenty of time away from the television for reading with your child, playing face-to-face, and exploring real objects and events.
If you are looking for alternatives to video or television when you or your child need a break, Dr. Pierroutsakos suggests sharing care with a neighbor or friend and incorporating your child into your everyday activities by wearing your child more (in a sling) or having your child engaged in play with real objects close by (for example, on the kitchen floor while you cook or on the floor while you rest on the couch). I also suggest using bath or shower time as a break for young children – many children will happily play in the tub or shower while you supervise or join in. Other suggestions include play with water at the sink while you are cooking (I am a fan of the Learning Tower and similar alternatives to step stools), a sand and water table, listening or making music together, reading books, or taking a walk outside.
The research:
Diener, M. L., Pierroutsakos, S. L., Troseth, G. L, and Roberts, A. (2008). Video versus reality: Infants’ attention and affective responses to video and live presentations. Media Psychology, 11(3), 418 — 441.
Baby Einsteins everywhere: Infants’ television and video viewing. Presented at the Biennial International Conference for Infant Studies.
Toddlers and television: TV viewing and early reading behavior. Presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development.
To learn more about Dr. Pierroutsakos, visit:
http://users.stlcc.edu/departments/mcbehavior/dr__sophia_pierroutsakos.htm
To learn more about Dr. Diener, visit:
