Children and Media: Learning from Screen Media
Prevalence of Screen Media
Children's screen time is a significant and growing concern, prompting research and discussion among educators, psychologists, and parents.
Eye problems, like digital eye strain and myopia (nearsightedness), are now appearing more in children due to extended screen focus.
Children often exceed recommended screen time, raising concerns about developmental and health implications.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends:
No screen time for children under 18 months.
Limit screen time to one hour per day for children aged 2-5 years.
Emphasizing direct interaction and exploration for early development.
Some studies link excessive screen time to negative effects, like a higher risk of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in preteens.
Most studies are correlational, and causation needs further research.
Electronic devices might hinder children's ability to self-soothe, a critical emotional regulation skill.
Professional opinions on screen media effects are mixed:
Some highlight educational benefits.
Others worry about negative impacts on attention, language development, and social skills.
Guidelines on screen time should be based on evidence-based research, considering:
Child's age.
Type of content.
Context of screen media use.
Statistics on Screen Media Access and Ownership (UK)
Data is based on a comprehensive report from Ofcom.
Device Ownership:
Around 20% of 3-year-olds own a mobile phone.
Mobile phone ownership increases sharply around age 8.
Almost all young people own a mobile phone by age 12.
Mobile phones and tablets are the most frequently used devices for online access among children aged 3-17.
Device Preference by Age:
Older children (12-17) primarily use mobile phones to go online.
Younger children (3-11) tend to favor tablets.
Access to Devices (5-18 year olds):
Tablet: 74%
Laptop: 67%
Games console: 77%
Smart speaker: 56%
Desktop computer: 51%
Most children (85%) watch TV and films via a traditional TV set, but many also use tablets or mobile phones.
Devices are increasingly used to watch live streaming content.
Screen Media Consumption
Children consume a substantial amount of screen media daily.
Statistics from 2021:
5-16 year olds:
2-3 hours watching TV.
1-3 hours on the internet.
1-2 hours playing video games.
Over an hour on mobile phones (excluding calls).
NHS report: 5-16 year olds average 6.5 hours of screen time per day.
Under 5s: Use tablets around 9 hours a week.
Over a quarter of all children spend 4-6 hours a day online.
In Canada, 8-year-olds spend over 5 hours a day on screens for leisure, in addition to schoolwork.
In the US:
Most 2-year-olds use digital devices daily, with 9 out of 10 introduced before their first birthday.
Nearly 40% of US parents say the TV is always on or on most of the time in the background.
In Australia, up to 30% of a child's waking time is spent in front of a screen.
Factors to Consider
Child-related factors:
Age (infants, toddlers, preschoolers, school-aged children).
Family background (socioeconomic status, parental education).
Individual characteristics (temperament, personality).
Media-level factors:
Type of screen media (TV, video games, social media).
Editing pace (fast-paced vs. slow-paced).
Content (educational, violent, pro-social).
Environmental factors:
Type of exposure (active vs. passive).
Caregiver presence (co-viewing, mediation).
Context in which screen media is used (home, school).
Outcomes of interest:
Language (vocabulary, grammar).
Executive function (attention, working memory).
Academic performance (reading, math).
Literacy, numeracy skills.
Pro-social behavior, social skills.
Emotion regulation.
Learning in Infants
Infants generally do not learn effectively from screen media.
Screen events inaccurately represent the real world, lacking depth, context, and multi-sensory experiences.
Young children struggle to learn due to underdeveloped symbolic thinking and difficulty understanding the connection between screen representation and the real world.
Research on Infants and Video Learning
Barr and Hayne (1999) studies with infants aged 12, 15, and 18 months:
Compared live vs. video demonstrations.
Control group did not see the demonstration.
Results:
Infants reproduced actions when demonstrated live.
12-month-olds could barely reproduce actions from video.
18-month-olds showed some learning from video.
Language Learning
Kool (2007) study on 9-month-old infants learning Mandarin Chinese:
Live interaction, video exposure, or control group.
Results:
Infants exposed to live Mandarin maintained the ability to discriminate Mandarin speech sounds.
Infants exposed to Mandarin via video could not differentiate the sounds.
Social interaction is crucial for language learning at this age.
Studies on Baby Videos
A correlational study on 2-24 month olds:
Every hour a day of viewing was associated with a 17-word drop in vocabulary score for 16-month-olds.
Commercial DVDs for word learning did not increase vocabulary.
56% of parents believe baby videos positively affect their child's development.
Infants struggle to learn from screen media, and parents may overestimate learning from videos.
Word Learning Study
A study tested 72 infants between 12 and 18 months on word learning:
Video with interaction.
Video no interaction.
Parent teaching.
Control (no intervention).
Results:
Only the parent teaching group performed above chance.
Children exposed to video did not learn more words than those with no exposure.
Social interaction with parents has the most significant impact on learning.
Parental perceptions of learning from videos may not be accurate.
Learning in Toddlers
Toddlers (18-30 months) can learn from interactive videos that encourage active participation.
Research on Toddlers
A study assessed toddlers' ability to perform a simple search task:
Direct face-to-face instruction.
Instructions via video.
Contingent interaction (interaction via screen).
Results:
Toddlers were able to find the toy in the direct instruction condition.
They were less successful with pre-recorded videos.
Contingent interaction via screen was effective.
Rosebery et al. study on 24-30 month old toddlers exposed to novel verbs:
Live interaction training.
Socially contingent video training.
Non-contingent video training.
Toddlers learned novel verbs via live interaction or video contingent interaction but not via pre-recorded video.
Educational content in pre-recorded video needs to be:
Age-appropriate.
Engaging.
Relevant to the toddler's interests and experiences.
Interactive content is better than non-interactive content.
Shows like Dora the Explorer are beneficial because they encourage active participation and promote problem-solving skills.
Learning in Preschoolers
Preschoolers (3-5 year olds) can learn from educational TV such as Sesame Street.
Watching Sesame Street as a preschooler relates to higher test scores in high school (US).
Educational TV programs like Super Why model key early literacy skills.
Children who viewed Super Why outperformed control group peers on nearly all child outcomes.
Learning was most pronounced for letter knowledge and phonological/phonemic awareness skills.
Moderate media use in preschoolers is related to larger language gains compared to high use.
Background TV
Three-year-olds spend around 5.5 hours a day in the presence of background TV.
Children spend half as much time playing with toys when background TV is on.
Background TV reduces attention during play and makes parents less responsive to children's attempts for attention.
Background TB exposure is associated with negative cognitive and language outcomes.
Increased background TV at six months predicts decreased cognitive and language development at 14 months.
Increased background TV at one year negatively predicts executive function at four years of age.
Social Skills and Cognitive Skills
Does screen media impact the development of children's social skills and cognitive skills?
Bobo Doll Experiment
Based on social learning theory, suggesting that we learn from observing others.
Children watched a video of an experimenter being aggressive towards a Bobo doll.
Children's play was more aggressive after viewing the video.
Children copied the researchers behavior.
Behavior will only be imitated if four conditions are satisfied:
The aspect of the behaviour that the child focuses on.
How much the child is actually able to remember from the video or the screen media.
Whether the child is physically capable of carrying out that action.
Whether the child is motivated to carry out that action.
Theory of Mind
Engagement with fictional narratives provides information about the social world.
Engagement draws on theory of mind processes.
Exposure to storybooks and movies are thought to influence children's theory of mind development.
Inferred exposure to children's story books predicted theory of mind abilities.
Inferred exposure to movies also predicted theory of mind abilities.
Inferred exposure to TV programs did not predict theory of mind development.
Emotional Competence
Brassmussen (2019) investigated the effects of pro-social media on preschoolers' emotion recognition and regulation.
Children played with Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood app and watched a control TV show, watched the Daniel Tiger neighborhood show, or played a control app and watched a control TV show.
Children exposed to the app and the show had better emotion regulation strategies.
Meta-analysis of pro-social media indicated positive associations with pro-social behavior and empathic concern, and negative associations with aggression.
Cognitive Outcomes
Lillard and Pierson looked at the impact of short-term exposure to fast-paced TB compared to educational TB.
Children were put into one of three conditions:
Fast paced TV show (SpongeBob SquarePants).
Educational TV show.
Self paced activity (drawing).
Executive functioning tasks:
Tower Of Hanoi.
Head, toe, toes, knees, shoulders task.
Marshmallow task.
Backward digit span task.
Children who watched SpongeBob for just nine minutes performed significantly worse at the executive functioning class.
Exposure to a fast-paced cartoon has an immediate negative impact on children's executive functioning skills.
Mental Imagery
Screen time is passive regarding the provision of mental images and narrows our senses.
Reduction Hypothesis: Viewing is passive, reducing the need for mental effort and imagination.
Stimulation Hypothesis: Sensory input is dominated by visual and auditory, leading to overstimulation and sensory imbalance.
Sergei and Marksa conducted a longitudinal study on screen time and mental imagery in 266 children ages 3-9.
Screen time correlated negatively with accuracy on the task.
Children who watched or exposed to more screen media performed worse at these tasks.
Screen Time Since COVID-19
COVID-19 resulted in children and adolescents spending more time on digital screen devices.
There's a significant association between screen time and metabolic health.
A study in The Netherlands found that children were less physically active and screen time was higher during and after school closures.
Changes made during the pandemic have had a lasting effect on habits.
Positive Note
Virtual education became more prevalent.
A study compared dialogic reading over video chat to more traditional forms.
Fifty-eight 4-year-olds were assigned to video chat, live or pre-recorded story reading conditions.
Results revealed no differences between conditions across the six different outcome measures.
All three conditions were successful in teaching children vocab and comprehension.
Children were more responsive to the prompts in the live and the video chat conditions compared to the pre recorded conditions.
Conclusion
Do children learn from screen media? It depends on:
Age of the child (infants don't, toddlers might, preschoolers do).
Type of screen media (educational, contingent, or entertainment).
Outcome of interest (language, social skills, cognitive skills).
Educational screen media appears to be beneficial for preschoolers and older children, when used in moderation and in conjunction with other enriching