Sleep is not the only thing that is affected by screen time. Screen time has been associated with slower language development. Babies and toddlers who spend a lot of time in front of a screen are actually slower to speak. This is also true if babies are in rooms where the tv is on, even when they are not actually sitting in front of it. It is suggested that the indistinct noise that comes from the tv makes it harder for a baby to recognize and learn language.
There are conflicting studies with regard to cognitive development so it is not clear what impact screen time has. However, it is well known that children do not learn anything from passive input and television is the ultimate in passive input. If your child is watching Sesame Street, for example, all by herself she will get very little from the program. If an adult is sitting with her and commenting on the activities or using them for interactive games, your child will learn much more. The interaction with the adult is far more instructive without the television program. One concern about screen time, and television in particular, is that each minute your child is watching is a minute less that she spends interacting with people or objects in the world. Those interactions are where real learning takes place.
Another area of concern is that media use is that the quick pace causes attention span problems. A first grade teacher I knew once told me that all the kids expect school to be like Sesame Street, with short active interludes involving cute animals and then jumping on to another subject. She said it was difficult for a teacher to be as entertaining. In addition, the children did not stay focused long enough to learn the material.
The content of programs is also of concern. Most programs for children are written for adults. Often children do not really understand the point of the program. One study of a program that was supposed to teach tolerance to 3-5 year olds actually had the opposite effect. The program focused on the difference that was to be tolerated for more time than it did on the group interaction. The children who watched it were more impressed by the fact that there was a difference then by the idea that they should be tolerant of differences,
Because of the concerns about screen time and the possible effects, Pediatric groups all over the world are recommending that babies under 24 months are exposed to ZERO screen time. That does not mean that if you pass a store window with a TV on display that you are going to ruin your child. That means that you should not put your baby in the same room where people are watching TV and should not set them at computers even with baby computer games. After 2, the recommendation is that toddlers are exposed to less than one hour a day of screen time and that the time they are in front of a screen (TV or computer) is shared with an adult who interacts with them.
The best thing for a baby’s development is to be able to explore and interact with real objects and people in his world. Screen activities are not real. Below are several websites and links to articles about screen time. The first is to an activist group that is called “Commercial Free Childhood” and is concerned about the effects of advertising on children. The second outlines the recommendation of pediatricians regarding screen time for infants. The third is a link to a blog called Baby Unplugged, which talks about the research on screen time as well as about what you can do with your time that you are not on screens. The 4th is the article mentioned above from the founder of Baby Einstien.
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