The False Promise of Screen Media for Babies and What One Advocacy Group Decided to Do About It

From the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), a United States (US)-based advocacy group, this article discusses deceptive marketing of educational screen media for babies. As stated here, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen time for children under the age of two. However, the baby media industry has been promoting to parents the use of video to improve intelligence in infants through screen media. Products marketed under the category "educational" screen media for infants include: software for infants; a television station claiming to promote infant learning, available via cable and satellite stations; and videos. (Footnotes are removed by the editor.)

In the US, about 19 percent of babies under the age of 12 months have a television in their bedroom, and about 40 percent of three-month-old babies are regular viewers of television. Yet, as argued here, "there is no credible evidence that watching screens is beneficial for babies, and some evidence that it may be harmful. Screen time for babies has been linked to slower language acquisition between eight and sixteen months and sleep disturbances. While one recent study showed that infant screen time had no impact on cognitive development one way or another at age three, another showed that, at age seven, children who watched more television as babies did less well on certain cognitive tests. Research also suggests that the more time babies spend in front of TV the less time they spend engaging in two activities that really do facilitate learning: interacting with parents away from screens, and spending time actively involved in creative play." Play is associated with the following capacities: initiative, curiosity, active exploration, problem solving, and creativity, as well as "the more ephemeral qualities of self-reflection, empathy, and the ability to find meaning in life".

In addition, negative aspects linked to television viewing of children three and over are bullying, poor school performance, and aggressive behaviour, as well as a heightened risk of obesity, which increases by 6 percent for every hour of TV watched per day; and, if there’s a TV in the child’s bedroom, the odds jump an additional 31 percent for every hour watched.

Direct engagement with the world, according to research cited by the author, enables the establishment of intellectual, social, and emotional development in the first months and years of life, contraindicating the commercialisation of culture in the direction of marketing media as tools for the intellectual development of infants. As stated here: "By targeting babies, companies are marketing not just products, but life-long habits, values, and behaviors - hardwiring dependence on media before babies even have a chance to grow and develop; removing them further and further from the very experiences that are essential for healthy development....Screen media can be habituating. One worry is that screen-saturated babies will never learn how to soothe or amuse themselves independently."

The parents' rights aspects of screen media marketing include:

• a right to decide when to introduce their children to screen media.
  
• a right to accurate information about the pros and cons of that choice.
  
• a right to raise children without being undermined by commercial interests.
  

The article concludes with information on obtaining product refunds on infant screen media and how to advocate for banning television programming aimed at babies and toddlers under 3 years old.

Editor's note (April 12 2010): Click here to read about what happened when Disney contacted CCFC's parent organisation, Judge Baker Children's Center (JBCC), a Harvard-University-affiliated children's mental health centre in Boston, MA (US). Also see this NY Times article about the aftermath: "After Victory Over Disney, Group Loses Its Lease", by Tamar Lewin, March 9 2010.