Media and Children

From Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a researcher, paediatrician, and parent, this video explores the media's impact on early childhood development. Delivered at the TEDxRainier 2011 event, the talk focuses on how early TV exposure of certain types and in certain doses can inappropriately stimulate a child's brain development.

In the video, Dr. Christakis explains that a child's mind goes through tremendous growth in the first two years of life; the growth comes from the formation of synaptic connections. "It's the quality of those synaptic connections that makes the difference between a child developing attention problems later in life and a child who is able to take advantage of beneficial cognitive stimulation that enhances their ability to pay attention, learn and grow." His research seeks to find out: "Is it actually possible to over-stimulate the developing brain in ways that are not beneficial but harmful?"

His research finds that:

• In 1970, the average age for children beginning to watch television was 4 years old. Today, it is 4 months old. By the age of 5, the average child is watching 4.5 hours of TV a day, which accounts for 40% of a child's waking hours.
• "Exposing young children to frenetic animation or fast-moving video conditions the mind to a reality that doesn't exist. The more TV kids watch before the age of three, the more likely they are to have attention problems by the time they start school."
• For each hour of TV watched before the age of 3, the chances for attention problems increased by 10%. But for those children who had cognitive stimulation before the age of 3 (parents who read to them, took them to museums, or sang to them, for example), this reduced attention problems when they reached school age. Each hour spent on this type of activity helped to reduce attention problems by 30%.
• Educational, slower-paced programming (such as "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood") imposed no contributing risk of attention problems. However, fast-paced entertainment programmes (such as "Powerpuff Girls") increased the risk of attention problems at school age to 60%, and violent programming increased the risk by 110%.

"The bottom line is...Promoting interactive play improves development. We need more real-time play and less fast-paced media for young children."