Screen Time: How Electronic Media–From Baby Videos to Educational Software–Affects Your Young Child

As a mother, Lisa Guernsey wondered in regards to the influence of tv on her two young daughters. As a reporter, she resolved to find out. What she first encountered was once tired advice, sensationalized research claims, and a slightly draconian mandate from the American Association of Pediatricians: no TV at all before the age of two. But, like many parents, she wanted straight answers and realistic advice, so she kept digging: she visited infant-perception labs and child development centers across the country. She interviewed scores of parents, psychologists, cognitive scientists, and media researchers, in addition to programming executives at Noggin, Disney, Nickelodeon, Sesame Workshop, and PBS. Much of what she found flies within the face of conventional wisdom and led her to conclude that new parents can be best served by specializing in “the three C’s”: content, context, and the person child.