Study Finds Television Noise Delays Development
Categories: Newborns, Babies, Toddlers, Development
Study connects delayed brain development to television. Image: sxc.hu
The study looked at over 300 children aged two months to four years old. The children were fitted with business-card sized sound recorders that captured everything they said and heard during continuous 12 to 16 hour periods. These recordings took place on random days for up to two years and were interrupted only for naps, baths, nighttime sleep and car rides. Special software was used to process the recordings and analyze the sounds children were exposed to as well as the sounds they made.
The researchers found that for each hour of audible television, there was a significant drop in the amount and duration of child vocalizations as well as a drop in conversational interactions with an adult. By "significant" they mean that, on average, every hour of television exposure was associated with a decrease of 770 words the child heard from an adult. And it's not that the children were just tuning out -- the adults were speaking 500 to 1,000 fewer words per hour of audible television.
"Adults typically utter approximately 941 words per hour. Our study found that adult words are almost completely eliminated when television is audible to the child," says Dr. Christakis.
Because language development is believed to be a critical component of overall brain development during early childhood, this reduced verbal interaction between children and adults may be responsible not only for language delays but for attentional and cognitive delays as well.
What is important to note here is that the study did not distinguish between children who were actively watching television and those who were merely in the vicinity of an audible television. In other words, just having the television on in the home reduced the number of words the child heard and spoke.
"Since 30 percent of American households now report having the television always on, even when no one is watching, these findings have grave implications for language acquisition and therefore perhaps even early brain development," warns Dr. Christakis.
The findings in this study certainly back up the American Academy of Pediatrics' Committee on Public Education's recommendation that children under the age of two should not be exposed to television at all and that older children should be limited to no more than two hours per day.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Uly 6-08-2009 @ 1:31PM
This study just confirms what earlier studies have already shown, of course.
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damoki 6-09-2009 @ 1:30AM
...but can they text?
I believe one of the three big problems relative to family in our society is the behaviors and habits associated with television; from the total number of hours children and adults plant themselves, trance-like, in front of a screen, to the loss of alternate opportunities.
The evidence presented associating depressed language and cognitive development to watching TV, supports the existence of deleterious potentials, and apparently a real threat to the continuing development of our species, (was that a little heavy?). Anyway, from Max Headroom, to reruns of any voyeuristic reality show, viewer fascination in the vacuous nature of the content appears insatiable: empty content, empty head. What would you expect when Jerry Springer, “rich-bitch” housewives, and unending laugh-machines driven sitcoms are still the standard?
Now we find after extensive study that we do not talk much while the TV is on... Shocking! The obvious nature of the findings notwithstanding, the threat to "family" is real. However, when you reveal this type of finding to most people, they may think it is bad, but they tend not think it directly applies to them, or they will deny participation at the level described. Maybe we should have a NO TV day of the week, when we actually talk to each other… good luck with that!
Seriously, this is another example of kids, as they always do, taking queues from their parents many behaviors: active and passive. As long as there is more profit in the drivel side of TV, it will exist. Only parents can have any effect on both TV programming, and their kids development. My only real hope, as odd as it sounds, is that parents will watch good TV less, if you know what I mean…
DaMoKi
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SKL 6-09-2009 @ 2:24AM
I have to admit that I hadn't thought of it this way before. I think that not only do vidiot parents not talk while the TV is on, but some people can't process the talk that they do hear, when there is too much background talk and noise. So that probably plays a part, too.
I'm not ready to declare that TV necessarily makes our kids dumb, but this highlights why it makes sense to watch TV with the younger kids (versus them watching it on their own) - not because they are too dumb to process what they are seeing, but because meaningful human interaction can enrich the experience. My kids spend some screen time with me present, and we interact similarly to how we read together - checking in on each other's reaction to stuff, asking "what do you think will happen next," etc. OK, maybe I'm killing a few of their brain cells, but I don't think so.
That said, I rarely watch grown-up TV and I herd the kids out of the room if someone turns on the news or some pop drivel. So maybe I'm comparing apples and oranges.
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