Several questions arise in the mind of parents when they want to decide about the fact that how much TV should kids watch. Alarming headlines regarding the harm caused by TV on young children are regularly published in magazines and newspapers. It causes panic in parents; however, the parents are still not able to keep their kids away from TV. A report issued in the year 2006 by the Kaiser Family Foundation, TV is watched by about 74% of the toddlers and infants before they reach the age of 2 years. In the current scenario, we have constant access to kid’s TV channels and other baby oriented programs. Hence, instead of the warnings, access to TV has increased creating more confusion in the mind of parents.

Infant TV Watching—Is It Harmful?

1. Negative Effects

• Affect brain development

During the first 3 years, a child’s brain grows profoundly; it becomes triple in mass during the first year. Brain development is profoundly influenced by the stimuli children experience during this stage. Images in the real world are different from what we see on screen. Infants may like to stare on the motion pictures and bright colors appearing on screen, but they are not able to make sense of these pictures. A baby’s brain may take up 2 years to understand the symbols on screen. Since this creates confusion in the mind of a toddler, the brain development is affected if they are watching TV at such a young age.

• Delay language development

There is increasing evidence to prove that language development is delayed in kids who watch TV before the age of 2 years. The brain becomes what it experiences. Infant TV watching is like mental junk food. The language development is delayed even by just having the TV in the background, even if no one is watching it.

• Affect reading skills and short-term memory

Evidence also exists to prove that watching TV has a negative effect on the reading skills and short term memory of toddlers.

• Cannot focus on learning for a long time

Children are specially programmed to learn from interaction with other individuals. Whenever the toddler or the parent watches TV, a halt occurs in this interaction. In normal circumstances, a parent utters approximately 940 words per hours to their toddler; this number falls significantly lower to 770 with TV in the background. Due to exchange of fewer words, there will be less learning. Toddlers who watch TV regularly are also more likely to develop problems of focusing at the age of 7.

2. Positive Effects

During their preschool years, educational TV does teach some children new skills. Children can learn maths, science, literacy, problem solving from well-designed shows. Children learn more from interactive programs such as Dora the Explorer. Educational TV is most beneficial for children whose homes lack intellectual stimulation.

If you would like to get more information about effects of infant TV watching, you can watch the video below:

How to Teach Good TV Habits for Kids Over 2 Years Old

Methods	Descriptions
Limiting the hours of TV watching	Do not keep TV in children’s bedroom; turn off the TV while eating food and doing homework; keep plenty of other things such as books, puzzles, toys, board games etc. in the TV room to encourage your child to do other things than watch TV. Enforce rules for viewing TV such as it can be viewed only after completion of homework.
Ban TV on the weekdays	Try to limit the infant TV watching time to weekends and holidays to get more time for other things such as studying, reading and sports during the weekdays.
Limit your own TV viewing time	Check the reviews of different programs before the telecast time to decide upon family shows that all of you can watch together or shows which promote your child’s interest in certain hobbies and education such as science shows, art shows.
Preview programs ahead of time	Make a TV schedule for the family and post it in a common visible area. Watch TV according to the schedule and turn off the TV after the program is over.
Watch TV together with your children	Discuss with your kids about the programs they see on TV and share with them your values and beliefs.
Make fun alternatives	Suggest fun alternatives to viewing TV such as playing a board game, reading a story book, working on crafts and hobbies or dancing to music.

What About Other Media for Infants?

It is recommended to avoid TV and other media for infants below age 2. Due to the rapid development of brain during these years, a child learns best by people interaction and not by watching TV. According to studies, use of excessive media can cause problems with attention in young children. It can also cause difficulties at school, obesity, sleeping and eating disorders. Moreover, use of Internet and cellphones can lead to risky and illicit behaviors in the future. Parents should limit their children’s screen time. They can offer other educational media and other formats such as books, board games and newspapers to help guide their children with media.