Television time-out

As if parents weren’t asked to lug around enough guilt about how they are damaging their young children, here comes the American Academy of Pediatrics with a warning about television, computers and other media. What makes the warning so effective is that the sense behind it is hard to refute.

The pediatricians are saying that no matter how happy a child is to watch the Teletubbies cavort in Teletubbieland, direct positive human contact is better. While the AAP notes the benefits from educational television, the average American child or adolescent spends more than 21 hours per week viewing television. Add to that the time spent hooked up to movies, listening to music or watching music videos, playing video or computer games, or surfing the Internet and end up not only with a goggle-eyed child but a disconnected one.

The reasons for limiting a child’s have been documented countless times: significant exposure to media violence increases the risk of aggressive behavior in some children and makes them more fearful of the world; the average young viewer is exposed to 14,000 sexual references each year, according to the AAP, which, parents won’t be surprised to learn, very rarely include accurate portrayals of responsible sexual behavior. The shameless advertising of harmful products such a cigarettes and alcohol within television shows and movies create additional problems. And this doesn’t begin to count the effects of lack of exercise by the viewer and the failure to do something more creative.

The AAP urges pediatricians to educate parents about television and tell them about alternatives that their children might enjoy. More dramatically, it concludes that children under age 2 should avoid television entirely. Here’s where the guilt comes in.

Logically, the AAP’s case seems rock solid; practically, it is less than helpful. The television-as-baby sitter, when a parent is trying to throw together a dinner or just get 10 minutes’ peace after a long night and longer day with a cranky baby, is a wonderful invention. For all its many and serious shortcomings, television in small, carefully selected doses gives a parent a breather without doing harm to a child.

The next study for the AAP might be to determine whether the parent who gets a break every now and then or the frazzled one is more willing to engage in the high-level brain-developing play the association advocates. The results could make parents, especially those with toddlers, feel a whole lot better.