How safe is television?

by Joanne Phillips

Uploaded by Catherine Hookway, Hillingdon NCT. Permission granted by author for use in NCT newsletters

In August 1999 the American Academy of Pediatrics published a report criticising the amount of television watched by young children. Among other things they recommended that children under the age of 2 should not watch any television and that older children should not be allowed television sets in their bedrooms. The recommendations for younger children were based on the view that when babies and toddlers are watching television they are not getting the stimuli which are essential for proper brain development, such as close-up interaction with older children and adults.

Another American study, reported in the media earlier this year, found that children between the ages of 1 and 3 who watch a lot of television are more likely to develop attention deficit disorder later on in their childhoods. The Chicago Times  also reported that other studies have suggested a link between television watching and obesity, aggressive behaviour, drug abuse, poor achievement in school, early sexual activity and poor body image.

However some of these reports have been criticised for not distinguishing between the type of programmes watched, just the number of hours, assuming that a child watching an hour a day of Cbeebies has the same level of risk as a child watching an hour of unsuitable adult programmes.  Also, in the studies mentioned above, even though factors such as parental education level and socioeconomic group were taken into account, the situation within each family was not, so it’s possible that the children apparantly damaged by television are those with other family problems and that unlimited television watching is just part of a wider pattern of neglect. It might be that children whose television watching is closely supervised by parents and who are encouraged to discuss what they are watching, are not so badly affected.

My instinct is that watching television is not helpful to children’s development. In general I don’t think parents sit and watch with their children, encouraging interaction and discussion as makers of supposedly educational programmes would often have us believe. I think television is too easily used as a childminder – understandable for the odd half hour when you need a break, but this can easily turn into longer and longer periods of time. I also feel really uneasy about children having televisions in their own rooms.

Here’s what a few well-known childcare books have to say on the subject:

Raising Happy Children by Jan Parker and Jan Stimpson: “Too much screen time is antisocial. It will limit your child’s opportunities for socialisation, free time and exercise and present him with a very restricted view of the fun to be had in the world.”

The Secret of Happy Children by Steve Biddulph: “It’s probably a good idea not to get so uptight about children’s televsion that it becomes a huge conflict. But considering that it’s the biggest influence on their minds after you, you may want to monitor your kid’s TV diet.”

Your Baby and Child by Penelope Leach: “Most parents find the peace which television and video cassettes can offer at least occasionally irresistible. And if using the screen as a babysitter isn’t exactly parenting to be proud of, its surely better than letting stress and irritation build to a point where you keep putting your child down or yelling at her.”

Finally here are a few comments from mums on their young children’s television-watching habits:

Naomi (mother of two children aged 2.5 and  9 months):
“My opinion on TV changes radically from day to day. One day I'm dog tired and desperate to have a quiet moment and the TV is like a God-send. The next I can't stand the sound of the thing and demand to switch it off for the sake of my sanity! I've come to the conclusion that TV is bad for you like chocolate is bad for you, i.e. in big quantities it ruins your health, but it’s fine in moderation. The good things are that it can generate conversation and shared enjoyment, you and your children can learn from it.”

Sarah (1 child age 15 months):
“I am in two minds about TV watching. I’ve always thought too much is bad for many reasons, e.g. there are better things to do, it encourages lethargy, etc. But I do I think there is some learning value to some TV programmes. The only hard and fast rule we’ve decided on is that we don’t want our son to have a TV in his room for a very long time yet (we have friends whose 3 or 4 year olds have their own TVs). Also I do think it is bad for him when we are watching TV while he is around because there is a tendency for us to become sucked into what we are watching so that we run the danger of ignoring him or making him act up more to attract our attention away from the TV.”

Abbi (one child age 2):
“I'm happy for my daughter to watch a limited amount of TV - perhaps an hour a day as quiet relaxation time. She's not allowed to have it on in the background, only if she actually wants to sit and watch it while I get on with jobs.”

Joanne (mother of two children, aged 3 and 8 months):
“I must admit there have been times when I’ve been really tired and just want to sit down with a cup of tea for half an hour and it is easier if you can put on a children’s video to keep them occupied. At one stage I got worried that my daughter was asking for TV a lot during the day, so now I let her watch TV once a day if she asks and only one or two programmes on Cbeebies so that’s usually not more than about half an hour. I’d say she only asks for TV 2 or 3 times a week, but I imagine this will change as she starts school and talks to other children about what they are watching. I think we will be quite strict about how much we let her watch then as I don’t think it is very beneficial. I know some programmes are educational but I hate to see kids just sitting like zombies in front of a box, not talking to anyone or aware of what is going on in the room. I don’t let my son watch any television at all as I think he is too young at 8 months old.

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