In 1999, the
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) discouraged TV viewing for children under
the age of two due to the increase of studies showing the negative affects of
television on infants. In 2011, the American Academy of Pediatrics published
another statement addressing this same issue. The AAP concluded that video
programs for infants are not educational, and that young children learn best
from and need interaction with humans, not television screens (HealthyChildren.org).
The AAP published this again to re-affirm its stance on television viewing for
children under 2, and to urge parents to be vigilant at making sure their
infant received as little media input as possible.
In 2006, The
Journal of Pediatrics published an article showing the harmful effects of videos
and other media. They surveyed around 1000 children from two to twenty-four
months old, and found that the children who watched TV or baby DVDs had a
significant decrease in grammar and vocabulary knowledge than the children who had
not watched TV or baby DVDs (Zimmerman, Frederick). They could not conclude how
the DVDs were contributing to a harmful effect on the infants, but they just
presented and discussed the correlation.
In a broad study
of early development of literacy skills, the educator Catherine Snow of Harvard
and her colleagues found that in addition to literacy materials, one of the major
contributors to later reading was simply the amount of time for “talk around
dinner.” The importance of simply being talked to, read to, and listened to is
what much of early language development is about, but the reality in many
families … means that too little time will be given to even these three basic
elements before a child reaches the age of five. (Wolf 103-104)
Wolf states that it is extremely
important to have human-to-human interactions with children for early language
development.
There is
significant research showing that educational media targeted for children under
the age of two is not educational and can actually be harmful for children in
this age bracket. Baby Einstein does not only create DVDs for children, but
they are the largest DVD manufacturer for children under the age of two. More
parents need to be educated on the dangers of Baby Einstein, so that harmful
effects on infants will be minimized.
