Screen Time: How Electronic Media--From Baby Videos to Educational Software--Affects Your Young Child

by Lisa Guernsey

As a mother, Lisa Guernsey wondered about the influence of television on her two young daughters. As a reporter, she resolved to find out. What she first encountered was tired advice, sensationalized research claims, and a rather draconian mandate from the American Association of Pediatricians: no TV at all before the age of two. But, like many parents, she wanted straight answers and realistic advice, so she kept digging: she visited infant-perception labs and child development centers around the country. She interviewed scores of parents, psychologists, cognitive scientists, and media researchers, as well as programming executives at Noggin, Disney, Nickelodeon, Sesame Workshop, and PBS. Much of what she found flies in the face of conventional wisdom and led her to conclude that new parents will be best served by focusing on “the three C’s”: content, context, and the individual child.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Education, Adult

336 pages, Paperback

First published March 6, 2012

Reviews

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good summaries of the research circa 2007 on TV, videos, and early educational software for young children in a vein that's closer to The Science of Mom: A Research-Based Guide to Your Baby's First Year; a little bit of the too much personal narrative/self-justification of Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong - and What You Really Need to Know. There's a bit at the end about the emergence of touchscreens (smartphones, tablets) but there just hasn't been enough time for scientific research to draw much in the way of conclusions there, I think.

Takeaways:
* we are monkeys and therefore our small monkeys are designed to learn best from 1:1 interactions with an adult that's paying attention to them, as well as physical world cause-and-effect. Most other methods don't improve on that but some can be decent substitutes since it's unlikely there are the resources for adult caregivers to optimize for learning all the time.
* there's a thing called the "video deficit" where kids get more from observing the same instruction live than the same instruction as a video.
* a lot of media we take for granted as adults actually requires a fair amount of abstract thinking capabilities. For example, just playing audio tapes won't do that much since it isn't connected to anything going on around the kid at present, and videos with cuts in them are pretty confusing.
* just narrating what's going on and what you and the kid are looking at is most effective for language development
* get into the habit of more intentional and engaged media viewing (aka don't have TV just on in the background)
* screen-based educational media before age 2-2.5 is pretty unlikely to be effective, and after that age is only effective when well-designed to meet kids where they're at, which means simple narrative structures and lots of reinforcement
* kids can't really tell that commercials have a particular intent behind them until 7 or 8, so videos are likely better than straight TV
* kids also can't tell what's real or not very well, so reassuring frightened young kids with "don't worry, it's not real" is not very helpful or meaningful to them. Better to avoid scary media until after 5 and when exposure happens, move away from the screen entirely to a different activity.

[Carol Park · Rating 4 out of 5]

Electronic media is exploding so why wouldn't you want your child to be part of the current trend and technology savvy at a young age? You might think it will give him/her an advantage in the future. Well, reading this book will give you something to think about and you just might reconsider your position. If you're a parent, this is worth the read!

[Alicia Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a parent and teacher this is a must read !!!!!! I appreciated the enormous reference list at the end and citing of research articles. I also appreciate how it doesn’t make you fearful but focus on the positive - how you can have a healthy life by focusing on what you can do not what you shouldn’t do. Super eye opening.

[Shannon Au · Rating 4 out of 5]

Educational.
Made me think differently about my preliminary thoughts about screen time - not all what's shown on the screen is bad...

Things to consider when evaluating screen time: context, content, and child.

[Danica Abisror · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated the overall thesis of the author in this book. Contrary to what I thought from the title, the author was not about giving guilt trips to parents for letting their kids watch tv. She explains a lot of studies (at times this gets long but some are pretty interesting and helpful) about kids and tech, specifically for kids under 5. And then she basically comes down to, parents need to be smart, interact with their kids and use technology wisely in light of studies and common sense. A balance and informed perspective.

[Bardees · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book taught me a lot about how kids respond to TV and what gets their attention at what age. I enjoyed reading it although it took me a while to finish it. having the epilogue with some insights on touchscreens was really beneficial and a needed addition to the book as Lisa highlighted key points to remember about screentime. Her new book studying screentime in relation to reading is coming out soon and I think I won't miss reading it.

[Susie Cameron]

To some extent this book was preaching to the converted. Great to have some research to support the damage being done to Gen S. the implications for the future of the human race and our 'humanity' - quite profound. (Always a fan of Blue's Clues)

[Julie]

Good but not yet updated for apps

[Dan Vinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Discussed in an April 2013 Atlantic cover story.

[Nella · Rating 2 out of 5]

2007 book with 2012 supplement. Very USA focussed (as to be expected) - some pragmatic comments and does "forgive" parents who use TV as an occasional babysitter. Preaching to the converted?

[Raudah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up the book thinking that I am just going to find myself frustrated because screen time is bad but there is just not much I can do about it is just downright impossible to avoid it, especially in Singapore. I was pleasantly surprised when I read an alternative perspective, supported with research and investigations. Guernsey is not so extreme to conclude that Screen Time is good and therefore a necessity to have a child's life. Nor does she say that Screen Time is bad and should be avoided at all cost. She took a middle ground here in this book which is detailed and enlightening.