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Early Childhood = Electronic Childhood

I was shocked recently by something I saw in the media. It wasn't a scene of grisly violence, nor was it a graphic sexual depiction. It wasn't even an instance of lewd language. It was a news story about a study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The study revealed that children aged zero to six spend an average of two hours a day using electronic media, the same amount of time they spend playing outside. That two hours a day is more than three times the 39 minutes they spend being read to or reading, according to the study. Even more shocking, the research showed that one out of four babies under two years old have TVs in their bedrooms.

These findings stand in stark contrast to the recommendations of America's pediatricians. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests parents should not allow their kids to watch any TV before the age of two. I have long agreed with these doctors that early childhood should be a time of exploration in the real world.

This new research showing that media plays a big role in the earliest years is important because it shows that media is a factor during the time that children are learning about the world and setting their patterns for how they will spend time in it. Making media as important in a child's life as playtime outside has huge implications that we probably will not fully comprehend for years to come. But it is safe to say that children will become addicted to television soon enough, without putting the amazing electronic companion in their nurseries before they're old enough to speak. Unfortunately, learning about the world, for the youngest children of today, is not simply a matter of play and family interactions, but also of watching someone's version of life on a flickering screen. When you bring that screen into a child's bedroom, the most private, safe space he knows, you magnify the role that TV plays in his life.

If we orient our kids to screens so early in their lives, we risk making media their automatic default activity. Another finding in the new Kaiser Family Foundation study shows that most parents believe that media have educational benefits. In the last few years, we've seen an influx of popular video programs aimed at tots. These videos are accompanied by huge marketing campaigns designed to convince parents that a kid without early learning videos is a kid deprived. There is no research to back up that claim. What we do know: once a child has a TV in his or her bedroom, it's difficult to pry it out. Other studies have proved that older kids with TVs in their bedrooms watch almost an hour a day more than kids without TVs, are at 31 percent greater risk of becoming overweight and don't do as well in school.

When deciding what's best for our kids, whom do you want to trust? Media producers who stand to make millions or America's pediatricians. I'd trust my kid's doctor. If we don't, then we may be unknowingly establishing patterns that will hurt our young ones for the rest of their lives.

David Walsh, Ph.D. is the president and founder of the National Institute on Media and the Family (www.mediafamily.org). He has written seven books and is a frequent guest on national radio and television.