Pediatricians again advise against TV for very young kids
Originally published in Current, Aug. 16, 1999
By Karen Everhart Bedford
When the American Academy of Pediatrics recently weighed in on media use by children, it indirectly contradicted PBS's usual claim that its programming is "good" for children.
Without mentioning Teletubbies, the PBS series that appeals to preschoolers who are learning to walk and talk, the AAP's policy on media education, released Aug. 2, gave a warning to parents and caregivers.
"While certain television programs may be promoted to this age group, research on early brain development shows that babies and toddlers have a critical need for direct interactions with parents and other significant caregivers for healthy brain growth and development of appropriate social, emotional and cognitive skills."
The policy also encourages parents to keep TV sets and computers out of their children's bedrooms, and to avoid using media as an "electronic babysitter." The AAP recommends that pediatricians discuss media use with parents, and endorses broader adoption of media education curriculum in schools.
The Academy released similar criticism immediately after Teletubbies debuted on PBS last year, expressing its opposition to programs targeting children under two that "also may be designed to market products."
While there's no reliable research on how television affects children under age two, the growing body of knowledge about early brain development shows that it's most important for this age group to interact with others and explore their world, according to the AAP.
"The Academy is very reluctant to see kids planted in front of a TV set below the age of two," said Victor Strasburger, a professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico's School of Medicine and a frequent lecturer on media education. "You can't come up with a good reason for exposing kids under the age of two to television. It simply doesn't exist."
To offer a program that explicitly targets this age group is "irresponsible and unnecessary," he says.
"There are too many other things that they should be exposed to, from a sensory and cognitive perspective, that are far superior," Strasburger adds. Plus, kids who develop a TV habit at a very young age will have a hard time breaking it when they're older.
PBS didn't dispute the AAP's recommendations this month, but noted that babies and toddlers are already watching television. "They do pick up on media cues, and it's important to make sure that what they're exposed to is positive stuff," says Jean Chase, director of PBS's Ready to Learn Service. "Nobody is saying that you have to sit an 18-month old in front of a TV" to watch Teletubbies, but for parents who choose to, "it's a very positive show."
"They're right that children watch too much TV, that they watch the wrong television," acknowledges Kenn Viselman, president of itsy bitsy Entertainment, importer of Teletubbies. "But it's wrong to blame television as the medium."
Viselman was recently named to Ad Age's "Marketing 100" for his success at marketing Teletubbies: licensing revenues from the kidvid property are projected to top $2 billion within the next year.
"It's not the TV itself that's evil or bad," he adds. "It's parents who are not educated about what is a good program for a child. Parents are going to use TV, so why not help them? Show them how to use it."
"It's sort of a stupid show, but it's not damaging, and certainly it's nice," comments Steve Shelov, chairman of pediatrics at the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, referring to Teletubbies.
He describes the AAP's policy as "a little too extreme," but adds: "sometimes extreme positions are necessary to get people's attention." If the policy serves to spread the word that "children being placed in front of a TV, especially at age two, is a bad practice, then I agree with that."
Earlier this summer, two noted specialists in children's television writing in The American Prospect took PBS to task for its involvement with Teletubbies:
"Until more is known about the effects of television viewing on one-year-olds, and until longitudinal research determines exactly what, if anything, one-year-olds learn from the Teletubbies, PBS officials should join the American Academy of Pediatrics and child development specialists around the country in actively discouraging parents from exposing their babies to television," write Susan Linn and Alvin Poussaint, psychiatrists who head the Media Center of the Judge Baker Children's Center in Boston. They call on PBS to sell its interests in the program and disassociate itself from "questionable claims about its educational value."
Earlier news: Pediatricians oppose Teletubbies shortly after the program's U.S. debut, 1998.
Outside link: Policy statement on media and discussion of media impact on children, on the web site of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Web page created Aug. 28, 1999
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Later news: PBS to launch Kids Channel for use on satellite, cable and other distribution media, September 1999.