Kids & Media Consumption

The computer is my lifeline. Is use it to generate my income, I use it to stay in contact with my friends and family, I use it to buy gifts.

The television is less important, but a few days ago, I confessed to sticking the kids in front of it to get more work done. While that is true, I had no idea how other parents were using the electronic babysitter. According to an article in The Globe and Mail, almost 1 in 5 children under the age of 2 has a television in his or her room.

In a past life, I worked as a youth media analyst. I conducted studies for companies into how kids responded to their media products, talked about communication strategies and kept up with studies into how kids respond to media. Since I worked for companies, I was often criticized for promoting media consumption among children when, in some people’s opinion, they should not be exposed at all.

Compared to the habits described in the article, my advice to parents is positively puritan! I prefer to think of these as careful, but realistic.

These are the guidelines I use at home, based on studies I evaluated and research I conducted in my past career.

1. For all children over 2 years, try to limit television and other screen media (computers, video games) to 2 hours a day and 10 hours per week, equivalent to one full/length video most days.

2. In an ideal world, children under 2 would never watch TV, but mothers need to eat and shower. I can pee, shower, get dressed and eat breakfast during the 22 minutes of the Teletubbies. If you need to turn on educational TV for 20-30 minutes for the baby, provide an additional activity such as a kick gym or baby exceriser so that the baby doesn’t associate watching television with inactivity.

3. If your baby/child goes to a day care centre or pre-school, ensure that they do not use television or video at all. In home day care settings you can be a bit more flexible. Home daycare workers need a break just as much as stay-at-home parents. Still, it should be kept to 30 minutes and reported to you at the end of the day.

4. Kids should not have televisions or computers in their rooms. Even teenagers should do internet research for their homework in a family space such as the living room or even the kitchen counter. Sex and violence are never far away in any mediascape and parents must see what their kids see.

5. Don’t use the television as background. Instead, have deined times of day when you watch TV. Having the TV on all time encourages passive reception. That means children and adults don’t think about what they’re seeing and hearing, they just accept it. What you want to encourage is active reception. In other words you want kids to think about what they are seeing and hearing so that they can evaluate it as important/unimporant or truthful/less than honest. If you need background sound, classical music is especially beneficial for children. In our house, I am the background sound. I take the kids in the kitchen while I make dinner, for example, and pretend to be a TV-chef teaching my audience how to prepare the day’s dish.

6. Avoid commercials. Educational television, DVDs and videos allow you to keep the number of ads your kids see to a minimum. True, you still have to confront character-driven toys and clothes, but at least there isn’t a fresh delight your child will want to posess every few minutes.

We live in a media-saturated world, one that has many benefits, but I think there is also cause for caution. The early parents start to to think about what influences they want in their home and to what extent, the better off our children will be.