The marketing pitch is enticing – “watch this especially produced show to make your baby smart” or “watch this video, and it will develop your baby’s brain.” Many parents are happy to leave their kids with these shows because these shows act as good babysitters that can entertain their babies while they are busy with everyday work. Parents do not feel guilty because they think that when their babies or toddlers are watching these shows, they give their babies “quality time”.
Programs (and videos) geared for babies are becoming popular. Since Teletubbies has been successful in appealing to viewers under age 3, the creators of Sesame Street launched Sesame Street Beginnings that also target this age group. A 24-hour cable channel for babies, BabyFirstTV was launched in the U.S., Canada, and other countries . The average Canadian kid watches 14 hours of TV a week; the average American, three hours a day—two hours a day for babies. Also, according to a University of Washington Research, 40 percent of three-month-old babies are already watching TV.
But is TV (and Video) really good for babies and infants under age 2? According to Dimitri Christakis of Children’s Hospital in Seattle and writer of the The Elephant in the Living Room: Make Television Work for Your Kids, while older children can learn from educational shows, no study has shown that babies benefit from watching television and video. In fact, it can actually do harm:
The first 2 years of your kid is a critical time for brain development. Watching TV steals time away from your kid’s exploring, interacting, playing with you and others, and actively learning by manipulating things around him. These are activities that help your baby develop the skills he needs to grow intellectually, socially and emotionally.
When your kid plays, he is actively learning about how the world works. He wires his brain by experimenting with cause and effect. When your kid interacts with people, he meets his emotional milestones. TV keeps your kid away from these activities.
The first 2 years of your child is also a critical time for learning language. Language is only learned through interaction with others, not by passive listening to TV. If you do not respond to your kid’s attempt to communicate, he could miss this important milestone. Also, your child will not learn to talk by listening to TV characters baby talk or talk down to him. He learns to talk by mimicking adult language. He learns from the adults’ simplified but correctly pronounced speech.
Note that when your baby smiles at the TV, the TV does not smile back. This may affect him socially and psychologically.