In an article written for the New York post, the AAP recommended that children under two years old should not be sitting in front of a television, playing tablets or tinkering with phones at all. Ari Brown, lead author of the article and chair of the AAP media committee, explained that their original recommendation last 2011 felt outdated even before it was published. She explained that like some science fiction movies, technology develops faster than science can study it. That's why their advice and recommendation was late.
The research team study the effects of screen time on young children and found nothing positive about it. The effect on kids under the age of two years old is clear and obvious. It doesn't matter whether they watch "Sesame Street" or into games like Subway Surfer or any educational application. If they stay in front of the screen for long periods of time, they turn into vegetables. Anyone can observe the difference of an 18th month old baby playing with wooden blocks as compared with an 18th month old baby looking at the screen of an iPad.
Of course, no parent would think that this recommendation was to prevent a child from seeing their grandparents waving on the screen or watching their favorite program or even playing educational applications. The aim is just to limit the time they spend handling gadgets or watching TV. However, the problem is not just the amount of time spent. Most parents realized that the effects last for a long time when kids are in front of the screen. Josh, father of three children, noted that his kids easily get bored when doing other things but while watching TV they are quite active. He realized that because screen time changed the way they play.
The team tried to compare the children who were looking at the shapes on screen as compared to the children who looked at the shapes in front of them. They also included how the parents interacted with them. In conclusion, they noted that the traditional toys gave a higher quality of conversation between the children and the parents. The children used more descriptions. Lastly, that even if children are now using gadgets like iPad to learn the alphabet or some words, this too can be harmful and change the learning experience of the child.
