|
Too many babies watching TV, study finds
The Toronto Star (May 07, 2007 By: Sheryl Ubelacker Source: Canadian press) writes that an alarming number of babies are being turned into ``screen time" junkies. In a study of more than 1,000 families, U.S. researchers found that 40 per cent of 3-month-olds and about 90 per cent of kids aged 2 years or younger regularly watch television, DVDs or videos. The study found that the infants and toddlers were spending up to 1 1/2 hours a day viewing television shows or DVDs, an activity the researchers say can be harmful to cognitive development.
Study co-author Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a pediatrician at Children's Hospital in Seattle, said certain TV programs and infant-aimed videos such as Baby Einstein and Brainy Baby are marketed as being advantageous for the developing child. Even the TV program Sesame Street, which has been shown as beneficial for number and letter recognition among 3- to 5-year-olds, is associated with language delays when viewed by children under three.
To conduct the study, published in Tuesday's issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, the researchers conducted a telephone survey of 1,009 parents of children age two to 24 months. They analyzed four television and DVD content categories: children's educational, children's non-educational, baby DVDs/videos and adult television (such as talk shows or sports programming). On average, children began watching TV at nine months old, with an average viewing time of 40 minutes a day. Those who began getting screen time at three months of age watched less than an hour per day, and by age 24 months they were watching more than 1.5 hours per day. The Canadian Pediatric Society recommends that preschoolers watch an hour or less of TV a day and that school-age kids keep their screen time to two hours maximum. The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages any screen time for children under 2.
|
