A Resource for Research on Interactive Media

If you're like me, you're a little skeptical of the new electronic toys and software being marketed to young kids. Are they all bells and whistles? Do they captivate a child's imagination? Do children as young as 3 years old -- the target age of some of these toys and games -- have the motor control to use them?

The answer, I'm learning, depends heavily on how the toy is made and whether the manufacturers have any sense of the developmental stages in early childhood. (I'm hoping to write much more on this topic soon.) But there is no doubt that interactivity has become the buzz word of the toy and software industry.

That's why I was interested to hear about the latest report from Children Now, released last week: The Effects of Interactive Media on Preschoolers' Learning. Christy Glaubke, a director at Children Now, wrote the report and announced some of the findings at the Paley Center on October 25th, in an event sponsored by the American Center for Children and the Media. (Full disclosure: I was there on stage with Glaubke to introduce and answer questions about my book, Into the Minds of Babes.)

A quick synposis of the report might go like this: There is so much we don't know. We're all thirsting for more research. But for sure, many preschoolers are using interactive technologies. For example, the Kaiser Family Foundation in 2003 found that 64 percent of 3-to-5 year old children can use a mouse.

Now, which technotoys actually inspire play and learning? There haven't been many hard answers yet, and when they do arrive, they are all over the map. An interactive Arthur doll, no longer on the market, appeared to be a flop. On the other hand, research from 1992 showed some learning gains with software that was designed in synch with a child's developmental needs. (I know, I know, 1992? Wasn't that in the dark ages?) According to more recent research, when parents and teachers get involved, when they guide (but don't steer) during a child's experience with interactive software, the positive educational effects come through. To many of today's parents, this is something of a no-brainer, and it begs the question of what other parent-child interactions the technology is replacing. Yet, seeing how much media has become a part of most family's lives, you've gotta applaud something that triggers good, engaging moments for kids and families.

Glaubke closed her presentation with a call for more research, and her report offers a compelling outline for how to fill in the gaps. She has very young children of her own (twin 1-year olds!) so I know she'll be following this closely herself, both at home and at work. But it's helpful have a report that brings the research together in one place and tries to make sense of what we have so far.

Three Studies on Children's Behaviors and Media Consumption

The questions continue to hang out there, like fog that won't dissipate: Do attention disorders have something to do with TV-watching at young ages? Is screen time making children fat? What happens to the social skills of preschoolers who watch a lot of television?

Almost weekly, a study appears in a medical or scientific journal to help us piece together what is really going on. The problem is, science is a bit-by-bit process, results are messy, and attempts to replicate results are even trickier. Here are three of the latest puzzle pieces to arrive on the scene:

Today, Pediatrics released a report that shows a relationship between behavior problems and heavy TV-watching (2 hours/day or more) at 2-and-a-half and 5-and-a-half years of age. But here's the good news: If children had been heavy TV users at age 2 but not at age 5, the effect went away.

(As an aside: At that age, kindergarten or pre-K programs take up a big part of the daily routine. In interviews I've conducted with middle-class parents, many have told me that the day is just too busy for much more than an hour of TV anyway.)

No link appeared between attention problems and heavy TV use at age 2-and-a-half. But having a TV in the bedroom at 5-and-a-half was associated with sleep problems and less emotional reactivity.

Note that the study didn't make any distinction between the types of TV shows watched. In other words, we don't know if they were violent, commercial-infused, adult-focused, children-oriented or educational programs.

Last month, also in Pediatrics, the question of attention-problems and TV-viewing got more focused treatment. That report is worth reading closely because it tries to answer what has been a confounding question left hanging by previous studies: Isn't it possible that children with attention problems had those problems before they ever were exposed to TV?

The authors, led by Carl Erik Landhuis at the University of Otago in New Zealand, found that when they controlled for attention problems in early childhood, they still found an effect of TV viewing by the time they were teenagers. This was based on 2 hours of TV-watching each weekday, which many define as heavy use, and was particularly robust among those who watched more than 3 hours a day in early childhood. The study made no mention, however, of what kinds of programs these children were watching. And we still have only an association -- a link -- that may be due to factors that are not directly TV-related. For example, could it be that TV is displacing too much of the run-around, outdoor playtime these children need?

The third study came out last week in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. It offered some of the first evidence that computer use in preschool children might be related to adiposity (roughly translated, how much fat is in a skinfold). Obesity and heavy-TV viewing was also connected, a finding that matches what has appeared in other studies of preschoolers. Getting at exactly what is causing the obesity -- is it just about the lack of exercise? could it the junk-food commercials? -- is a knot still to be untangled.