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(Ivanhoe Newswire) Parents of infants may want to think twice the next time they turn on the TV or purchase DVDs designed for infants. New research shows time with an audible television cuts down on communication between parents and infant children.
Growing exposure to television in a childs early years has drawn concern among some in the medical community. To examine the effects of this growing trend, researchers studied more than 300 infants between the ages of two months and two years. The children wore digital devices that recorded everything they heard or said.
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With each additional hour of television exposure, infants heard 770 fewer words, and led to a decrease in the number and length of a childs vocalizations and conversation turns with parents.
"These findings must be interpreted in light of the fact that purveyors of infant DVDs claim that their products are designed to give parents and children a chance to interact with one another, an assertion that lacks empirical evidence," the study authors write. "Some of these reductions are likely due to children being left alone in front of the television screen, but others likely reflect situations in which adults, though present, are distracted by the screen and not interacting with their infant in a discernible manner."
SOURCE: Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine, 2009;163[6]:554-558
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