Have Parents Been Duped By Educational Television?

America's children are watching television before they can walk--or even sit up. One in five babies and children under the age of 2 now has their own television set in their room reports a survey of 1009 parents, and that number doubles by age 4.

Other findings from the survey? Forty percent of infants are regular television viewers by just three months. By age 2, that number's up to 90 percent. Children under one watch an average of one hour while two-year-olds watch about one-and-a-half hours.

This isn't necessarily lazy parenting, however. Nor does it point to stressed out parents planting kids in front of the free electronic babysitter (interestingly, there was no link between parental education or economic level and the amount of viewing). Rather, the largest number of parents (29 percent) reported putting the little ones in front of the television because they thought it was good for their brains. And indeed, the children watched educational programs such as "Sesame Street" about half the time they were in front of the T.V.

These responses suggest a great number of parents may be falling prey to what researchers call "outrageous" and unsubstantiated claims by the producers of educational programs. But who can blame them? In the last ten years, production of programs designed to stimulate the minds of the under-two crowd has boomed, so much so, that in the 2007 State of the Union Address, President Bush cited Julie Aigner-Clark, founder of Disney's Baby Einstein™; line of educational toys and media designed for children age "birth and up," as a shining example of America's entrepreneurial spirit. And what parent wouldn't want to "utilize the unique features of DVD to create a multisensory learning resource for parents, infants and toddlers" via her extensive line designed to introduce preverbal children to everything from sign language to the solar system? Or better yet, get all-day access to these and similar shows via BabyFirst TV, the first 24-hour premium channel for kids age 6 months to three years?

The message to parents is clear: Tune kids early in or lose out on the head-start necessary in today's competitive world. Unfortunately, these shows are unlikely to create a nation of prodigies: Complaints have been filed with the Federal Trade Commission against Baby Einstein for "deceptive and false claims." Meanwhile, experts on child development, argue that such shows may rewire infants' brains for worse rather than better.

In a 2004 study, the survey's co-author Dimitri Christakis linked television watching in young children to attention deficit disorder (ADD). Hypothesizing that "very early exposure to television during the critical periods of synaptic development would be associated with subsequent attentional problems," the study found that children who watched television at ages 1 and 3 were more likely to display attentional problems by the age of 7. Each hour of television the child watched per day further led to a 10 percent increase in a child's likelihood of developing ADD symptoms. Christakis suggests the fast visuals of children's shows may overstimulate baby's brains, perhaps permanently developing neural pathways. In a commentary to the study, Jane Healy, a child brain expert, further questions "whether the insistent noise of television in the home may interfere with the development of 'inner speech' by which a child learns to think through problems and plans and restrain impulsive responding."

While the study notes that the affects of television on young children still requires a great deal of further research and some studies have shown benefits to educational programs, in the meantime, parents are probably better off following the advice issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics and eliminating television for children under two, opting instead for the "good, positive interaction with other children and adults" that's been the mainstay of creating bright babies since long before the invention of even adult television.

ABSTRACT: Television and DVD/Video Viewing in Children Younger Than 2 Years