Screen Or No screen

Infants and toddlers need to learn  interaction with the people around them and not interaction with the screen.

You can video-call with grandparents, cousins or parents who are far away. But when it comes to day-to-day learning, children need to touch things, shake them, throw things, and most of all, see the faces and hear the voices of those they love the most, physically.

 Apps can teach toddlers to tap and swipe at a screen, but studies tell us that these skills don't translate into real-world learning.

A lot of parents say, "But my baby likes watching TV or playing with tablet computer!" Infants may stare at the bright colors and motions on a screen, researchers say it takes around 18 months for a baby's brain to develop before it starts to make meaning out of the symbols and pictures on the screen.

Some school of thoughts say that babies and toddlers don't get anything out of screens. They claim to have evidences which suggest that screen viewing before age 18 months has lasting negative effects on children's language development, reading skills, and short term memory. They also claim it  contributes to problems with sleep and attention. According to them, exposure to screen is like mental junk food for babies and toddlers.

Toddlers learn a lot more from banging pans on the floor while you cook dinner than he does from watching a screen for the same amount of time, because every now and then the two of you look at each other and messages are communicated through those glances. 

Just having the TV on in the background, even if no one is watching is said to be enough to delay language development. Normally, a parent speaks about 940 words per hour when a toddler is around. With the television on, that number falls by 770! Fewer words means less learning.

It is believed that toddlers who watch more TV are more likely to have problems paying attention at age 7.

Video programming is changing, it is getting more interesting. It almost does not give room to a child to deal with anything more tedious or demanding.

​Culled from: David L. Hill, MD, FAAP