Parents Turning Kids on to TV

May 24, 2006 — -- Parents are surprisingly enthusiastic about television, according to researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation, which today released a new report on media and children.

"Parents are using media to help manage their households, to get through really busy days and tight time schedules, to keep the kids occupied so they can get something done," said study co-author Vicky Rideout.

For Kimberly Velasco of Montgomery Village, Md., this could not be any more true.

The mother of three told ABC News, "It's a help for me because I work full time. When I come home, sometimes I have to get dinner ready or get ready for the next day. It helps entertain the children when I can't be there."

According to the new study, on an average day, 83 percent of children under 6 years old use screen media -- which includes television, video games, DVDs and the computer -- and 33 percent of them have a television in their bedroom. Even very young children watch TV. More than 40 percent of children 2 years old and under watch television every day.

Research shows that the content of the media is what matters, according to Zero to Three, an organization devoted to supporting the development of young children. Efforts have been made to create quality media content for very young children.

BabyFirstTV, the nation's first television network devoted solely to programming for children under 3 years old, said it is filling that void in television for babies. Says Sharon Rechter, co-founder and vice president of business development for BabyFirstTV, "everything we do is supported by leading experts, and we can really see that babies are learning."

Parents are fairly evenly divided on whether TV helps kids learn -- 38 percent say yes, 31percent say no.

But in focus groups the Kaiser Family Foundation study conducted, many parents did say they believed that TV helped educate their young children.

"It has really helped my daughter a lot as far as colors, shapes," said LaKisha Hitch. "It builds up their confidence."

Parents also believed media might promote positive social skills in their children. More than half of the parents in the Kaiser study said their children calmed down when they watched television.

Further, about two-thirds of parents in this Kaiser study observed their children imitate positive behavior from television. Not only was sharing and helping observed, but Velasco said it encouraged them to play creatively.

"It teaches them ways to play with each other," said Velasco.

Despite the positive feedback from parents, Rideout warned parents to monitor what their children watch.

"There is some educational content that can benefit kids," she said, "and there is other content that may be detrimental."

Rideout said the fact that there were so few studies on the impact of media on children this young made it is hard to know if there was any benefit. Medical experts also remained skeptical and strongly cautioned against any use of media with children younger than 2, a time when the brain is still rapidly developing and needs stimulation.

"In the first two years of life, it's not good to have any screen time, because you need as much human interaction as possible," said Dr. Stanley Greenspan, a child psychologist in Bethesda, Md., and author of "The First Idea."

Greenspan's outlook for the future is not bright. He worries that media overload in young children may negatively affect the child in numerous ways.

"We're going to see more and more passivity, and all the things that come from that. Problems with attention, problems with obesity, problems with taking initiative, and problems with being good creative and reflective thinkers," Greenspan said.

Sharae Sharp of Capitol Heights, Md., has already begun to worry about the effects of television on her 3-year-old daughter.

"She'll just get that deer-in-the-headlights look. I'm like, you know what, it's time to turn off the TV," Sharp told ABC News.

Dr. Alvin Poussaint, professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School, is especially worried about media directed toward babies.

"There is no evidence that they might learn anything from watching those videos or that it would increase their intellectual development in any way," said Poussaint. He cautioned that media for babies may actually have negative developmental effects because "watching the screen might in some way be harmful to [their] development."

Zero to Three has summarized a few practical guidelines for parents of very young children to follow: limit viewing time, watch with your child, choose content carefully, and extend the learning by connecting what they see on TV to real life.

Researchers say the true effects of media on young children still remain unknown. Until more research is conducted, it is often up to the parent to figure out whether and how much their child should use different media sources. What parents have to remember, as Velasco remarked, is that television "can be a great tool, but with great things come great responsibility."