TV, children and language, part 1

TV and DVD are often part of children’s lives, and more and more are used to “teach” children a language. Is this right or wrong? Is TV a language learning tool or a brain killing device? I have done some research on the subject and I want to share the results with you. With regards to TV two are the fundamentals questions:

• How bad is TV for children?
• Do TV and DVD support language learning?

We’ll look here at the first question and in a next post at the second, the sources for the information give below are some articles as well as information given by pediatricians and psychologists at conferences.

How good or how bad TV is for children depends from:

• How much, hours per day
• What, content
• How, context

HOW MUCH

• Under 2 years the best TV is no TV. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no television at all for children under 2 and no more than 1 to 2 hours per day of quality programming for older children. They don’t deny that TV might have some potential positive effects “such as the promotion of positive aspects of social behaviour (eg, sharing, manners, and cooperation)”, but stress how the negative effects outweigh them to the point that TV can do real harm: “Research has shown primary negative health effects on violence and aggressive behaviour; sexuality; academic performance; body concept and self-image; nutrition, dieting, and obesity; and substance use and abuse patterns”.
• TV instead of? A largely underestimated point is that one of the main side effects of TV is depriving children of opportunities for more stimulating and enriching activities. A show might be not too bad in itself, but odds are that it is far worse than talking with mommy, going out to play with daddy or reading a book with granny (providing mommy, daddy or granny would have time for any of these activities of course).  See  The effects of infant media usage by Christakis, a very interesting and comprehensive article; if you prefer something a little less comprehensive though read this review, which highlights some key points all parents should be aware of.

WHAT

1. Not all contents are the same, choose wisely. TV programs are particularly detrimental, both the programs and the commercials are not suitable for children. Neither their format, too fast and too noisy, nor the contents, too much violence, sex, and consumstic messages, respect children’s sensitivity and needs. However quality programs do exist, often available on DVD.
2. Quality programs share some common elements:
   • Slow pace, very slow for young children. Pace is probably one of the main indicators of quality, yet programs are becoming faster and faster. Children that watch a lot of these programs are more likely to have attentions problems, you can call it ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), or in simple terms it could just be that the teacher at school will be just to slow for them and they won’t be able to concentrate on what she’s saying. Bottom line, they won’t learn.
   • Educational content (see Christakis)
   • Easthetics. Yes, programs for children should be beautiful and teach them to recognize and value creativity and artistic beauty. The standardised cartoons kill children creativity, if a child cannot think of anything else to draw than a character from a popular cartoon parents should worry, a lot. There are thousand of reasons why a child with no creativity or fantasy should be pitied, but let me also add a more pragmatic consideration: for adults creativity is also a key component of professional success.

   This for instance in unquestionably a very high quality children video: . and you’ll find more of these videos here.

• Watch out for the news. News are bad for children, they often represent shocking events. Children are deeply impressed but cannot understand nor rationalize what they see.
• Remain in control. Several studies suggest that the content and context of TV exposure might be even more important than the quantity of TV children watch, particularly for children above 3 (Christakis). An important consequence is that parents should always choose what they watch, hence no TV in the children’s bedroom and no remote controller in children’s hands.

HOW

• Daddy, seat here please. Adults should watch TV together with children, this point is stressed by all experts but largely underestimated by parents. It is true that our lives are often stressful and that parents might really need some 15 minutes break to take a shower or cook dinner, we all know this. But the point is, whenever possible watch CD and DVD with children. This is even more important if the show is in the minority language. Elaborate on what is happening on the screen, ask the child to comment it, make it interactive. Always remember that children, and adults, learn from interaction (Christakis).
• Switch the light on, please. Imagine the child watching TV: body is completely still and the only active sense is sight, he’s there in the dark, immobilised, while eyes keep moving. Doesn’t this sound like dreaming? It does. When a child watches TV it’s like he was dreaming. Problem is, in dreams there is a strong identification. Dreams are REAL for the dreamer. Imagine the same happening to a child watching violence on TV, and you’ll see that something is wrong.
• Background TV is bad too. The fact that the child is not watching TV doesn’t mean that TV is not on, it’s not the same. Background TV affects children attention spans too and short attention spans are bad, because they mean that children cannot concentrate for long enough to understand and learn.

Few more points I found very interesting:

• Emotions come first, words follow. Emotions are immediate, while words require a lot of processing. This is an important point, because discussing things with children is not always a solution, it might well be that before you even start a discussion a deep emotional impact has already happened that is difficult to undo.
• Whatever arouses emotions that cannot be controlled leads to dependency. This is a fascinating and at the same time very scary concept. The idea is that dependency happens towards things, people, or events that arouse emotions or feelings on which the person has no control whatsoever. TV is by definition a passive mean, there is no way to influence what is going  to happen next on the screen, although analysing, reasoning on and elaborating what ones see helps making the viewer less passive, hence less dependent. In fact TV addiction has been found to be very similar to drug addiction.
• TV is also linked with obesity. Avoid by all means the habit of eating snacks in front of TV and make sure you lead by example

BILINGUALISM STEP BY STEP

Here is your homework. Consider these 15 tips a Pediatrician (Dr. Generoso) gave on optimising children’s TV usage. Go through the list and highlight all the tips that are currently not implemented in your family. Then chosse max 3 tips you might want to introduce and decide HOW you are going to do it. Discuss this with your partner, baby sitter, grandparents, etc. Hang the new rules on the fridge, and make it happen. It’s in your hands (certainly not in your children’s).
1. Propose programs to children that are most suitable to their age
2. Watching television with your children.
3. Do not use the television as a punishment or reward.
4. Do not use the TV as baby-sitter
5. Establish with the children the time to devote to TV
6. Prevent children from watching television before going to school.
7. Prevent children from watching television just before bedtime.
8. Keep the TV off during mealtimes and homeworks.
9. Do not give the child the remote control.
10. Do not place a TV in your children’s bedroom.
11. Use DVDs rather than TV.
12. Seek viable alternatives to television.
13. Have books suitable for exploring topics your children are interested in.
14. Pay attention to the “conditions” of the vision and listening, i.e. no dark in the room and not too high volume.
15. Check the quality and quantity of food taken in front of the television

Picture by Aaron Escobar

Related posts: