3 ms·

There are many meta-studies demonstrating that repeatedly for the past 20 years. TV is bad for children. Video games are bad. Phones are bad, and tablets, and c

by wazoox 7y ago

There are many meta-studies demonstrating that repeatedly for the past 20 years. TV is bad for children. Video games are bad. Phones are bad, and tablets, and consoles, and computers. It's bad for their mood, their IQ, their sleep, it gives them obesity, ADHD, it's bad any way you look at it; it's even bad when the parents are watching the phone instead of interacting with their children... Here's one meta study: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/2751330 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abst... "This study suggests that education and public health professionals should consider screen media use supervision and reduction as strategies to improve the academic success of children and adolescents." here's another one: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263708644_Media_Use_and_ADHD-Related_Behaviors_in_Children_and_Adolescents_A_Meta-Analysis https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263708644_Media_Use... "Our results indicated a small significant relationship between media use and ADHD-related behaviors."

bpizzi 7y ago
Honest question: why don't you include books as a media?
- umvi 7y ago
  Same reason vegetables aren't grouped together with soda and candy and chips, despite all of them being "food"
- jacobolus 7y ago
  From what I can tell, listening to books read aloud is by far the most effective and efficient way to promote child language development. Listening comprehension is a foundational prerequisite for most kinds of intellectual work. In comparison watching videos, playing tablet games, etc. comes nowhere close. The differences are (1) the language in books read aloud is more often tailored to the child’s comprehension level, because parents can figure out whether books are too easy or too hard; (2) the range of grammar, vocabulary, styles, ideas, etc. is much wider in books than most kids get from other kinds of media; (3) the book is not a fixed medium but also has a live interpreter who can define or skip difficult words, repeat sentences rephrased a different way, answer questions, ask questions, go back to cross-reference earlier parts of the book, point specific things out in the illustrations, etc. Anecdotally, the preschool kids around me whose parents read to them for 1+ hours/day seem to end up advancing about twice as fast in their language skills as their peers. YMMV.
  - bpizzi 7y ago
    Yes I heard this too. Frankly something doesn't click for me, I can't say what exactly. The brain is far, far more complex than that, we can't boil "child language development" down to "read them 1+ hour/day" and "limit screen time".
    - jacobolus 7y ago
      It’s not that reading is literally the only possible way to get the same kind of linguistic input to the child. I’m sure listening to an expert storyteller, watching a puppet show or play, listening to someone reciting poetry, having a thoughtful conversation with an adult while looking at some wordless artwork, singing songs together, etc. can be similarly stimulating. The thing is: it’s hard to find actors for a play in the child’s bedroom at night. It’s hard for parent to come up with 200 different well-plotted stories at the appropriate level with visual props. Etc. But after 2 years of daily practice I can read a picture book decently (including funny voices, etc.) while half-asleep and consciously thinking about something unrelated with half my attention. The kind of logical reasoning, grammatical variety, vocabulary, etc. used in books is not literally impossible to imitate with some other medium. It’s just a lot more work and in practice not really done.
      - bpizzi 7y ago
        Don't take it personally, you're fully entitled to have your own thought on this subject. But to me it looks like you are putting really too much importance on bedtime readings (or at least you are citing studies and trends that says so). Because, I don't know if you have children, I do (8 and 6): you can't read them a different book every evening for 1h. Even for more than 5 minutes. You just can't. Life is messy, there's no place for such idealistic hobbies. That's why I can't relate to those "advice" (too use kind words), I just don't think they are relayed by real parents.
xorfish 7y ago
Did the study only compare differences between siblings? There are so many studies that are wortless because they don't controll for the environment. Besides there is quite a bit of evidence that games and especially competitive games are good for the brain. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/201502/cognitive-benefits-playing-video-games https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/201502...
- wazoox 7y ago
  Yes, these studies and particularly meta-studies control for other parameters, social, economic, etc.
  - xorfish 7y ago
    There are so many factors that influence child development and media use. I don't think it is even possible to properly control for them. How can you for example control for the believe that they are bad? Better parents will have more success reducing the metrics that are believed to be bad than other parents. How can you control for the rising philosophy? I'm especially skeptical about the claim about ADHD and that games are bad. There is lots of evidence that games, especially of competitive nature like shooters or strategy games, improve cognitive functions. ADHD is to a large degree heritable and influences all kinds of behavior. I think it is by far more realistic that ADHD would influence screen use and not the other way around.
    - wazoox 7y ago
      Actually games improve very specialized cognitive functions. For instance you know that being good at chess doesn't relate much to being good at poker, and being good at tennis doesn't do much for your football abilities. Similarly, being good at some FPS game makes you at best marginally better at video games of a different genre, and have no actual relationship to your abilities in the real world. Even a study on driving games showed no improvement of actual driving in test subjects.
gpanders 7y ago
Hours of TV watched also correlates with violent/bullying behavior in adolescence and adulthood: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/485982 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/... https://science.sciencemag.org/content/295/5564/2468.full https://science.sciencemag.org/content/295/5564/2468.full Deferred imitation is a powerful thing. "Brain Rules for Baby" is a great resource for new parents that covers this topic pretty comprehensively.

by wazoox 7y ago

bpizzi 7y ago

Honest question: why don't you include books as a media?

umvi 7y ago
Same reason vegetables aren't grouped together with soda and candy and chips, despite all of them being "food"
jacobolus 7y ago
From what I can tell, listening to books read aloud is by far the most effective and efficient way to promote child language development. Listening comprehension is a foundational prerequisite for most kinds of intellectual work. In comparison watching videos, playing tablet games, etc. comes nowhere close. The differences are (1) the language in books read aloud is more often tailored to the child’s comprehension level, because parents can figure out whether books are too easy or too hard; (2) the range of grammar, vocabulary, styles, ideas, etc. is much wider in books than most kids get from other kinds of media; (3) the book is not a fixed medium but also has a live interpreter who can define or skip difficult words, repeat sentences rephrased a different way, answer questions, ask questions, go back to cross-reference earlier parts of the book, point specific things out in the illustrations, etc. Anecdotally, the preschool kids around me whose parents read to them for 1+ hours/day seem to end up advancing about twice as fast in their language skills as their peers. YMMV.
- bpizzi 7y ago
  Yes I heard this too. Frankly something doesn't click for me, I can't say what exactly. The brain is far, far more complex than that, we can't boil "child language development" down to "read them 1+ hour/day" and "limit screen time".
  - jacobolus 7y ago
    It’s not that reading is literally the only possible way to get the same kind of linguistic input to the child. I’m sure listening to an expert storyteller, watching a puppet show or play, listening to someone reciting poetry, having a thoughtful conversation with an adult while looking at some wordless artwork, singing songs together, etc. can be similarly stimulating. The thing is: it’s hard to find actors for a play in the child’s bedroom at night. It’s hard for parent to come up with 200 different well-plotted stories at the appropriate level with visual props. Etc. But after 2 years of daily practice I can read a picture book decently (including funny voices, etc.) while half-asleep and consciously thinking about something unrelated with half my attention. The kind of logical reasoning, grammatical variety, vocabulary, etc. used in books is not literally impossible to imitate with some other medium. It’s just a lot more work and in practice not really done.
    - bpizzi 7y ago
      Don't take it personally, you're fully entitled to have your own thought on this subject. But to me it looks like you are putting really too much importance on bedtime readings (or at least you are citing studies and trends that says so). Because, I don't know if you have children, I do (8 and 6): you can't read them a different book every evening for 1h. Even for more than 5 minutes. You just can't. Life is messy, there's no place for such idealistic hobbies. That's why I can't relate to those "advice" (too use kind words), I just don't think they are relayed by real parents.

xorfish 7y ago

Did the study only compare differences between siblings? There are so many studies that are wortless because they don't controll for the environment. Besides there is quite a bit of evidence that games and especially competitive games are good for the brain. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/201502/cognitive-benefits-playing-video-games https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/201502...

wazoox 7y ago
Yes, these studies and particularly meta-studies control for other parameters, social, economic, etc.
- xorfish 7y ago
  There are so many factors that influence child development and media use. I don't think it is even possible to properly control for them. How can you for example control for the believe that they are bad? Better parents will have more success reducing the metrics that are believed to be bad than other parents. How can you control for the rising philosophy? I'm especially skeptical about the claim about ADHD and that games are bad. There is lots of evidence that games, especially of competitive nature like shooters or strategy games, improve cognitive functions. ADHD is to a large degree heritable and influences all kinds of behavior. I think it is by far more realistic that ADHD would influence screen use and not the other way around.
  - wazoox 7y ago
    Actually games improve very specialized cognitive functions. For instance you know that being good at chess doesn't relate much to being good at poker, and being good at tennis doesn't do much for your football abilities. Similarly, being good at some FPS game makes you at best marginally better at video games of a different genre, and have no actual relationship to your abilities in the real world. Even a study on driving games showed no improvement of actual driving in test subjects.

gpanders 7y ago

Hours of TV watched also correlates with violent/bullying behavior in adolescence and adulthood: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/485982 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/... https://science.sciencemag.org/content/295/5564/2468.full https://science.sciencemag.org/content/295/5564/2468.full Deferred imitation is a powerful thing. "Brain Rules for Baby" is a great resource for new parents that covers this topic pretty comprehensively.