Tuesdays. One year olds. And entering the age of media.

The Girl has a new trick. She has learned to flip the television off and on. Off and on. Off and on. Off and on. From a technological standpoint I’m secretly hoping she fries the electronics by doing this so I have an excuse to buy a new high definition screen. LCD or plasma? (Oops, wrong blog.) From a parenting standpoint, my curiosity is at the edge of its seat waiting for that moment when the light in her little head flicks on to realizing that there is actually content on the television, and its not just a big funny toy in the living room. Right now, it seems, the TV is nothing more than a fascinating, flickering box that is controlled by a big, round, gray button. True, something there will catch her eye and she’ll stare for long minutes at the pictures but — as for seeking to watch television, desiring to catch a familiar programme, or showing signs of recognition at particular characters — there is no real indication that there is a “pull” to the tube at this point in her life.

But I’m sure it’s coming. Soon. And that doesn’t really bother me.

I’ve made the argument prior to today that I don’t think avoiding television is either realistic or sensible. As with everything else on this blog, I’m going to hang this out there as a challenge for skeptical parents to find the right balance of time spent in active play and passive time. So, I also don’t think it’s realistic to expect to expect to hide the existence of television from kids. And the effect of that will be to approach a couple of important questions:

The Advertising Question

With quality programming for kids often comes advertising. After all, unless one is willing to shell out the extra money to buy those programs on DVD, someone needs to pay the bills of the broadcasters. While buying a few DVDs might be a way to alleviate a bit of the pressures on parents of constant simultaneous viewing with their kids, the reality is there will be advertising to contend with (and you’ll notice this is an AD-FREE blog, by the way). To judge the effect of advertising on kids — something for which I am no expert — I looked to the some of the research that has been done and found examples like this:

“…the diet presented on Saturday morning television is the antithesis of what is recommended for healthful eating for children.”^[1]

And more evidence such as this:

Even brief exposures to televised food commercials can influence preschool children’s food preferences. Nutritionists and health educators should advise parents to limit their preschooler’s exposure to television advertisements.^[2]

From my perspective these are both reputable articles from the Journal of the American Dietetic Association and seem to hint at the effectiveness of merely one of many kinds of advertising. (Well, perhaps “hint” is an understatement.)

The Aggression Question

Having spent some time in Europe I am aware of something of a (perhaps, generalized) dichotomy between the two cultures in regards to the clash of sex and violence on television. As North Americans would look upon a sex scene as a qualification for a strong censor rating on a program, Europeans seem more apt (again, in general) to look with the same concern up a violent scene in the same program. This dichotomy is definitely worth investigation for further understanding, perhaps in a later post, but I bring it up only to suggest that my own inclination has always tended to be towards the European perspective in this regard: given the two I would rather have the Girl encounter sex on television than violence. And perhaps this will come as a further challenge to me as a parent in that North American culture whose ideals run contrary to these.

In support of this, I did come across an article that studied the aggressive tendencies of kids, in particular “the relationship between exposure to aggression in the media and children’s aggressive behavior”^[3]. Their findings were only marginally significant, but (again) hint at the effects of content on young children:

“Compared with controls, children in the intervention group had statistically significant decreases in peer ratings of aggression (adjusted mean difference, -2.4%; 95% confidence interval [CI], -4.6 to -0.2; P = .03) and observed verbal aggression (adjusted mean difference, -0.10 act per minute per child; 95% CI, -0.18 to -0.03; P = .01). An intervention to reduce television, videotape, and video game use decreases aggressive behavior in elementary schoolchildren.”^[3]

What’s a skeptical parent to do? And again, avoiding television may seem like a quick catch-all for these problems, but is it realistic? Perhaps there are likely solutions out there, but my own form of “intervention” will actively try to take the following shape:

1) Television time is family time, not a solitary activity. Being able to explain any and all content to kids seems like a sensible way to get them on side with your ideas. Pointing out the flaws in sales-pitches could become a fun new game, and clever kids will pick up the real message quick.

2) Bring the real world to the content. When you are out and about, at the store or the park, point out examples of products or behaviors you have viewed together on television. These are ideal teaching moments. “Remember we saw an advertisement for that on TV? What do you think about that?”

3) Own your content. A small collection of DVDs or a Personal Video Recorder (fast forward!) of some kind can give you a break from those questions. But you still need to be there behind them — nothing is 100% foolproof.

What do readers think?

[1] Kotz, K. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis); Story, M., Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Food advertisements during children’s Saturday morning television programming: are they consistent with dietary recommendations?, v. 94(11) p. 1296-1300, 9534824
[2] D . Borzekowski, The 30-Second Effect An Experiment Revealing the Impact of Television Commercials on Food Preferences of Preschoolers. Journal of the American Dietetic Association , Volume 101 , Issue 1 , Pages 42 – 46
[3] Thomas N. Robinson, MD, MPH; Marta L. Wilde, MA; Lisa C. Navracruz, MD; K. Farish Haydel; Ann Varady, MS, Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. Effects of Reducing Children’s Television and Video Game Use on Aggressive Behavior , 2001;155:17-23. Link.