Turn Off and Tune In

The evidence linking television, internet use, and other forms of passive entertainment to negative developmental outcomes for children is growing every year. There is near unanimity within the research and paediatric community regarding the harmless effect of television on the psychosocial development of children; however, ambiguous and conflicting messages are making it difficult for parents to make informed choices around television viewing habits for their families. Several years ago, research detailing the negative impacts of television on early infant development prompted the American Paediatric Association to recommend that toddlers under the age of two have no exposure to television. The Canadian Paediatric Society offers a somewhat muted perspective, and provides advice on how to “promote good television viewing habits in children“, and recommends that “by the end of the first year of a child’s life, there should be ground rules for television viewing; healthy viewing habits should be established in the second year of life“. Other surveys on paediatric mental health provide sobering statistics showing that even these tepid recommendations are not reliably adhered to.

Studies show that approximately 40 per cent of infants regularly watch TV, DVDs and videos by three months of age. By the age of two, 90 per cent of children are watching television more than one and a half hours a day on average, and 59 percent of children under age two watch television for an average of two hours per day. 30 percent of children aged zero to three years old have a television in their bedroom, and 39 percent of children between the ages of zero and four live in households where the television is always on or is on most of the time, even if no one is watching. Given the chorus of concerns regarding the manifestly detrimental impact of television on a child’s cognitive development, one might expect to find stronger recommendations within the paediatric mental health community to significantly limit or eliminate television viewing for infants and children.

It appears it is going to be up to individual parents and families to take bold action to significantly limit or eliminate television viewing from the home. An unpopular position to be sure, but why should that be so? Parents strive to give their children the best opportunities available, and when parents know better they do better. Once the concerns are too compelling to ignore, can we imagine a lifestyle that does not include television at all?

Such an arrangement may not suit every family; when speaking to parents about the risk factors associated with television, the reactions run the gamut from quiet acknowledgement to sighs of resignation. Others respectfully disagree, citing the prevailing wisdom that television is a relatively harmless form of entertainment, even an essential tool for fostering a child's social and emotional development and well-being.

Before going any further, its important to clarify that nearly all discussions involving television invariably dissolves into a debate around content, particularly violent and overtly sexual content. Those concerns are well-founded, and the topic merits a full discussion on its own. For the moment, though, let’s put the issue of content to one side and examine television exposure from a slightly different perspective.

A case against...

It may be true that the business of television has staked a claim to our time and attention. At the same time, the availability of evidence-based research on the potentially harmful effects of television on children can serve as a call to action for families. The case for significantly limiting or eliminating television from the family home includes four broad dimensions; these four dimensions are by no means all-encompassing, but they will cover the most essential ideas.

Television negatively impacts the developmental trajectory of children 

There are a number of ways in which television may interfere with a child's cognitive development. Television is inherently a passive form of one-way communication; the lack of reciprocity means that television is unresponsive to the moment to moment communicative signals of a child. It is for these reasons that television, even educational content designed specifically for children, is incapable of teaching children how to use the lessons it purports to teach in a generalizable or “sticky” manner. Children require interactions with other people to learn the lessons of communication and socialization that will help them confidently master their world.

The sedentary nature of television also leads to atrophy and loss of muscle tone in children, particularly of the postural muscles. This overall lack of movement is implicated in lower levels of sensory motor activation of the neocortex and frontal lobes, the parts of the brain which are primarily responsible for higher level visual and auditory information processing, language production, and associative thinking. The frontal lobes are responsible for certain aspects of self-regulation and the intentional problem-solving skills that fall under the broad category of executive function; these skills are essential for optimal school performance and later adult adjustment. Research also shows that children who watch four or more hours of television per day have much higher rates of obesity and consume higher numbers of low quality calories. Inactivity and obesity are correlated with developmental issues in children such as learning disabilities and behavioural disorders. Statistics indicate that most children exceed the recommended limits for media-related activities.

Television is a meaning maker

Children are constantly seeking emotionally meaningful experiences, and it is within the context of connection and meaning that the most powerful learning takes place. As a consequence, television can inadvertently become the de facto social mediator for children as they categorize the experiences of their unfolding world. How children think about themselves and their place within the social and cultural fabric is powerfully influenced by their sensory experiences. Commercials are uniquely concerning, given the manner in which commercials can be specifically targeted to elicit responses from children.

Television is powerfully shaping more than just the buying habits of our children; on a more profound level these messages are shaping our children's self-concept, enforcing stereotypes, and telling children how to think and feel about themselves within a manufactured context. At its worst, television reinforces their doubts and concerns, their anxieties and fears.

Television inhibits attunement

Attunement is the sense that we feel understood and empathized with on a deeply emotional level, and this feeling state promotes true closeness and intimacy. Attunement is an essential building block in childhood development, and children benefit immensely from the comfort and attachment security of closely attuned relationships.  Attunement lives in the subtle, moment to moment affective communicative signals between individuals. This reciprocal non-verbal communication is vulnerable, and television limits opportunities for deeper and more profound connection. The social interaction that unfolds when there is a television turned on in the room lacks many of these essential qualities. Within a few minutes, conversation grinds to a halt, attention gets refocused on the glowing screen, there is little meaningful interaction, and no attention is being paid to non-verbal forms of communication. Opportunities for warm engagement, sharing of ideas, and meaningfully relevant exchanges are diminished, and children get fewer opportunities to acquire critical socialization skills.

Is it any wonder that a recent University of British Columbia research study revealed that over a third of preschool children in British Columbia are delayed to the extent that they are socially and emotionally unprepared for kindergarten? Television is surely not the only reason, but to the extent that recent evidence reveals correlation between television viewing and later developmental difficulties, we as parents should be more critically questioning.

The opportunity costs of television...Or opportunity lost

Opportunity cost is a term that describes the cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue another action. We make these kinds of cost-benefit decisions all the time, because we have limited time and resources. Given that parents are responsible for setting guidelines around the activities that children can participate in, we should take time to consider the opportunity costs attached to the time that children are spending engaged in passive forms of entertainment such as television, social networking, and video games. Research shows a strong correlation in children between engagement in passive forms of technology (television, internet, computer games), and various neurobehavioural disorders of childhood. Therefore , how children are spending their time merits careful consideration, to the extent that it may limit opportunities for physical activity, creative play, time spent in quiet reflection, and other activities that foster physical, social, and emotional health and well-being. 

The most meaningful activities for children include things like emotionally engaging reciprocal exchanges with parents, make-believe play with friends, exploration of the natural world, and physical play activities. These activities foster closeness and intimacy between parents and children, teach socialization skills, promote problem-solving and task persistence, and build optimal physical and mental health. There is an opportunity cost imposed on children and families to the extent that television competes with or displaces these activities. The cost of having multiple tiered cable packages also imposes a financial opportunity cost to the extent that families may not have as much money available for swimming lesson or that new bicycle, art classes or a trip to a museum.

In the end, children are no different from adults in their desire for meaningful and relevant emotional relationship connection. As television and other forms of electronic social media consume ever greater chunks of our available time we are destined to become increasingly disconnected from the kinds of meaningful experiences we crave.