When the television is on babies hear far fewer words and conversations, which could hurt their speech and possibly cognitive development, a new study released this week found.
Researchers found that for each hour a TV was turned on and audible, between 500 and 1,000 fewer words were spoken, which is important because other research suggests the number of words a baby hears plays an important role in development.
“We’ve known that television exposure during infancy is associated with language delays and attentional problems, but so far it has remained unclear why,” lead researcher Dr. Dimitri Christakis said in a statement. “Since 30 percent of American households now report having the television always on, even when no one is watching, these findings have grave implications for language acquisition and therefore perhaps even early brain development.”
Christakis added the best tools for early childhood language acquisition are spoken and imitated words of parents, teachers and caregivers. Unfortunately, each additional hour of TV, whether as background or entertainment, was “associated with a decrease of 770 words the child heard from an adult” during research sessions, the press summary stated.
These are the latest findings on the impact of TV on babies and kids from a group of University of Washington researchers, including Christakis, who also found “40 Percent of Babies Watch TV, UW Study Finds” and “Videos Won't Make Baby Smart”.
You can preview a video of Dr. Christakis talking about his latest findings and offering TV tips here.
Seattle Children’s Hospital offers the following recommendations:
- “Avoid TV for babies under age two.” (The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no TV)
- “Keep TV off during meals.”
- “Avoid using TV as a reward.”
- “Watch TV with your child.”
- “Keep TVs out of bedrooms.”
You can see the full list in the press summary
For further reading: “Even Background TV May Delay Infants' Speech” – Live Science, via MSNBC.com.
(Thanks to LiveScience.com for highlighting this news.)