Psychology Today
My 6-year-old is addicted to watching DVDs whenever she’s in the car. Like most parents, we struggle to limit her screen time, but it seems to be a constant battle. My daughter is not alone in this TV ‘addiction.’ Most kids seem to crave television. It’s a problem.
The statistics on daily childhood screen time and the negative impact that television has on cognitive
development are alarming. Despite new technologies like iPads and video
games, television continues to dominate children’s screen time.
The
average American home has 2.86 TV sets, which is roughly 18% higher
than in the year 2000 (2.43 sets per home), and 43% higher than in 1990
(2.0 sets). In America, there are currently more televisions per home
than human beings. This is disconcerting to me.
On average, children under the age of 8 spend over 90
minutes a day watching television or DVDs. Nearly 33% of American
children live in a household where the television is on all or most of
the time. Children between the ages 8-18 years old watch an average of
three hours of television a day. On average, 61% of children under two
use some type of screen technology and 43% watch television every day.
Television Exposure Reduces ‘Theory of Mind’ in Preschoolers
Unfortunately, television is the least interactive of any new media and is the one most likely to reduce theory of mind. A paper titled
“The Relation Between Television Exposure and Theory of Mind Among
Preschoolers” was published on November 19, 2013 in the Journal of Communication. The researchers found that preschoolers who have a TV in their bedroom and are exposed to more background TV have a weaker understanding of other people's beliefs and desires, and reduced cognitive development.
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