Sooner - I need your mad scientific research skills if you have sec

kimbo1216

@Sooner1981

If you have a minute, would you be able to help me find if there are any scientific articles on why the "no tv before 2" recommendation is in place.

I looked, but find mostly opinion articles. 

FTR...I'm not asking for me.  We followed it pretty closely with dd1 and plan to do it with dd2 even though I think it will be much harder this time.  I'm asking for a friend who is on a board that thinks it's stupid but has absolutely zero research to support their opinions.  So if possible, I'd like to sooner them. 

kimbo1216

Thanks @lynnyloo, that's a good one!

ballygirl

I don't have any references but this is from a friend of mine who teaches neuroscience at U Michigan. My understanding is that infants can't really process what they see on tv, it's just like a flashing light box. The problem is that things on TV move much faster than in real life, there are so many camera angle changes etc. we don't notice it as adults but to a baby's brain it's just a bunch of rapidly changing lights- extremely stimulating for an infant. Their brains are developing so rapidly in these years that them they watch tv, the more they get habituated to this highly stimulating environment and basically it hard wires their brain to need this stimulation. That's why they think it is linked to attention probls later. My friend used the analogy of spending a long time in the bright sun and then coming indoors and it's hard to see, your eyes have become used to the bright light.

PixiesDust

So you're saying you need them Sooner rather than later?  Eh, eh?!  See what i did there?!

kimbo1216

Yep @ballygirl.  I totally agree!  I was looking for scientific articles to back it up so it was backed.  Does that make sense?

hlb622

@lynnyloo I haven't read the link you posted yet, but OMG 1/3 of toddlers have TVs?! Am I just that old and out of it? That seems ridic-high.

ballygirl

I should also add that my friend said he thought the recommendations were probably over cautious because the research is still uncertain and they don't know how much tv exposure is a 'safe' amount so they just recommend zero.

I've looked for articles too and have not found a lot. DH and I are in a debate about this because he is a tv addict and I don't let him watch while the girls are in the room.

EmJ&B

ballygirl said:

I should also add that my friend said he thought the recommendations were probably over cautious because the research is still uncertain and they don't know how much tv exposure is a 'safe' amount so they just recommend zero.

Our pedi said this . . . until there is more research, she recommends zero, knowing that there will inevitably be some.

kimbo1216

The 1/3 of toddlers having a tv in their room is crazy to me.  DH and I don't even have a tv in our room. lol

sooner1981

Those are all great links--I especially like the aap link, if you are trying to give the basis for the "recommendation."

That said, my husband and I read all the studies and papers on the subject, and then did kinda a "modified" approach. Not saying this is good or bad--just that this is what we have done.

We watched shows like HGTV and regular tv shows when the kids were babies. We didn't watch action movies, horror films or anything where there are tons of cut aways, sudden booms, basically anything jarring or super special effect filled. If the tv program is like cooking shows, hgtv and that kind of stuff, our reasoning was that those kinds of shows just basically are the same as exposing your kids to the grocery store environment or target. It is just "normal" noises and scenes.

We never turned on cartoons or any "kids" movies, so our daughter doesn't associate the tv with something super "fun" that she wants to pay attention to. But sometimes on long weekend days cooped up inside, I have found that I need a little bit of background noise while playing blocks or puzzles!

When our 2 year old was about 22 months, I started letting her watch PBS or sprout while she was sitting on the potty. Our pediatrician said to make toilet training fun, and I had just had our October baby, so that was the best I could do for fun. She seems to like it--but doesn't care when I turn it off after she pees. Also, we just showed her some parts of finding nemo the other night because she is completely obsessed with all things fish these days. She was so happy and loved watching the fish talk.

We also did YouTube clips of random animals from about 15 months forward and started limited access to kid apps on the iPad when we were taking a 12 hour car trip to Colorado last month--we brought a million books and activities also, but when it gets dark at 5:30 and we still have 3 hours to kill before bedtime, there are only so many nursery rhymes you can sing!!

I think that is what we will keep doing as we go forward. Tv in moderation, but not totally banned. The literature is definitely compelling that tv before 2 doesn't "help" anything. And it is compelling that lots of exposure to super amped up exciting TV can lead to attention problems later on. But even if you do zero TV with your first kid, your next one may be exposed to a little when your older one is 3 and 4, so I think this is one of those areas that is just up to each parent to decide...

TXswissmiss

This researcher discusses how babies cannot learn language from video/audio

https://www.ted.com/talks/patricia_kuhl_the_linguistic_genius_of_babies.html

huntjul

If you have time to read a book, I'm in the middle of a GREAT scientific exploration of this topic.  Screen Time: How Electronic Media—From Baby Videos to Educational Software—Affects Your Young Child by Lisa Guernsey. 

It reviews a huge amount of pertinent research to answer questions about whether babies/children understand what they see, whether they can pick up on the emotions even if they can't understand it, whether learning TV actually results in learning (and if so, when), whether background noise TV interferes with language learning, etc--and I'm only 40% through the book so far.  Strongly recommend.

kimbo1216

@sooner1981, it sounds like you did what we did.

I sent her the link.  She actually ended up posting 2 different aap links.  And I think she did it in an un-antagonistic way.

pmarie33

phew!  I need my hgtv.  

ballygirl

crunchymama11 said:

i read somewhere that tv background noise can hinder speech because their brains can't focus on your words clearly because their brains can't focus on everything at once, if that makes sense. and since dd1 is behind in speech- no tv at all right now (i did use to have the tv on for about 2 hours a day for background noise). i think i read that in the book "raising spirited children" but i am not 100%

Yes I've heard that too. There's a great book called 'What's going on in there' by Lise Eliot. It describes brain development from conception to early childhood. It's not exactly an easy read, some chapters are kind of dry, but it's really interesting and detailed.

huntjul

ballygirl said:

i read somewhere that tv background noise can hinder speech because their brains can't focus on your words clearly because their brains can't focus on everything at once, if that makes sense. and since dd1 is behind in speech- no tv at all right now (i did use to have the tv on for about 2 hours a day for background noise). i think i read that in the book "raising spirited children" but i am not 100%

Yes I've heard that too. There's a great book called 'What's going on in there' by Lise Eliot. It describes brain development from conception to early childhood. It's not exactly an easy read, some chapters are kind of dry, but it's really interesting and detailed.

The book I mentioned went through compelling evidence (multiple large studies) of this. Said at least this topic is black and white.

vvg28

I did a research paper on exactly this in college. And this was even before all the smart phones and tablets we have now. I wish I still had that paper. Lots of good info I found for it. I do remember one article that followed a story teller around to schools. It noted that the children would get restless after about ten or fifteen minutes because they were used to a commercial break. Sad....like I have said many times....my LO will be "behind" on tech skills when he gets to school bc he will not have access to technology. I want him to use his imagination....not have an app or tv do it for him.

And thanks for all the good info everyone!