On Monday, October 17, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a revised position statement on the the use of screen media with children aged 2 years and younger. Personally, I thought the statement had no surprises; anyone knows that developmentally there’s very little for babies and toddlers to get from zoning out in front of a TV screens that are not interactive. But sadly, the AAP keeps on narrowly defining “screen media.” I was hoping they’d start thinking of it this way – if screen media were a disease, it would have extraneous symptoms. You wouldn’t treat every runny nose with a sulfonamide, right? Likewise, you can’t combine interactive media like the Wheels on the Bus by Duck Duck Moose, into this definition.
Scott Traylor covered the AAP press event for CTR, and he asked AAP spokesperson Dr. Avri Brown if the AAP considered iPads and other forms of INTERACTIVE media in their definition of “SCREEN MEDIA.” Scott’s questions start at 12:28 at http://youtu.be/9EuXIrWUkI0. I recommend that everyone give it a close listen. It provides an important window on the thinking of this very important group.
Dr. Brown’s answer to Scott: “We know that media now, or screens are ubiquitous and very portable. What we have research on as of today is televised programs. Televised programs can appear on multiple screens. We do not have any research on apps and games that are educational. There may in fact be some merit to those things because they’re interactive and they take cause and effect to a different level. But we don’t have any data on that so this policy does not address that.” And later “I know that this a topic that is being explored” and “it’s a good question.”
We give this answer an incomplete. Our children deserve a better, more thoughtful answer from our nation’s pediatricians. By using a general term like “screen media” in a public statement without better definition, the AAP is missing a chance help a generation of young parents better understand an issue that is very relevant right now. You can’t just pretend that 10,000 apps don’t exist. There’s a reason an 18 month child is using Sandra Boynton’s board books in your waiting room… on mom’s iPad. Well designed apps can empower them in new ways. INTERACTING with screens is a different psychology than the PASSIVE WATCHING screens. Amazingly, in the presentation, there are actually pictures of toddlers using iPads as the visuals in the slides. C’mon Docs! You’re soooooo close.
Hey, that's an iPad!
David Kleeman’s reaction to the video was similar to mine, but he said it better:
The dismissal of interactive media because there’s no research is pretty
much inexcusable; since she admits that their 1999 statement was based on
“limited data and cautionary principle,” they could quite well have at least
discussed the changing world of screens and issues to be studied and
addressed on both the positive and negative sides. As it is, it’s like
doing a review of a McDonald’s menu based only on the days before they sold
apple slices and milk instead of fries and soda.
Kleeman went on to say “Why does no one ever acknowledge that children — not unlike adults –
live diverse lives filled with many things. This whole concept of ‘better use of time’ is meaningless out of context of what else they and their parents are doing with their time…are they surrounded by books? Is it safe to go out and play? Are they given open-ended toys and art supplies?”
BTW, Scott also recorded Caroll Spinney’s AAP keynote. Spinney plays Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch and he jumps in and out of character, revealing the soul of Sesame Street. This guy is a national treasure, and his talk is not to be missed. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To-WeblEBC0
2 Responses to “Hey Doc. What About my Toddler’s iPad?”
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October 20th, 2011 at 10:17 am
[...] Children’s Technology Review Hey Doc, What About My Child’s iPad? [...]
January 15th, 2012 at 1:10 pm
Research has to be specific. There’a world of difference between sitting a toddler down in fron of some innane tv programme and watching them learn from a really good app on the iPad. And the iPad invites interaction between parent and child. Some of the apps I’ve downloaded are fun for me to play with my children. And I’m fairly careful to only get educational apps. I took direction from the apps reviewed on this site http://www.smartappsforkids.com as they only review apps that have an educational basis.