Too much media too soon
Add Comment By Amrita Sheokand | October 27, 2009
This piece of news brought a smile to my face yesterday: Walt Disney Company offers refunds for their “Baby Einstein” videos. Even though the company denies it, this is clearly an admission that they misled consumers through ads that claimed the “educational” DVDs would make children smarter.
But my glee toward this development is short lived because the damage is already done and this apology of sorts is somewhat delayed.
Baby Einstein has gained popularity since they pioneered a media market for babies and toddlers in 1997.
“The videos — simple productions featuring music, puppets, bright colors, and not many words — became a staple of baby life: According to a 2003 study, a third of all American babies from 6 months to 2 years old had at least one “Baby Einstein” video,” according to an article in The New York Times.
Disney giving out refunds sends out a message that should make consumers wary of myriad of products offering similar claims.
But parents themselves should know better than to buy into advertising gimmicks.
Obviously parents are not using common sense when it comes to exposing children to media and a Nielson report released yesterday proves just that.
New findings suggest that TV watching has reached an eight-year high. Kids ages 2 to 5 are watching on an average 32 hours of television a week and those between 6 and 11 are watching 28 hours a week. This means that little children are spending more than 5 hours everyday in front of some sort of media- DVDs, electronic toys, recorded programming among others.
“There are some extraordinarily good media for kids,” said Dr. Vic Strasburger, a professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and a spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics. He was speaking to the Los Angeles Times. “But even the best -- 'Sesame Street' for 5-year-olds -- kids shouldn't be watching five hours a day. They should be outside playing. They should be having books read to them.”
Susan Linn is the director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, which put Disney under pressure to offer the refunds for their DVDs for babies.
Here’s what she has to say: “Once you start hooking babies on media, it's harder to limit it," she said. "If we start children early in life on a steady diet of screen time and electronic toys, they don't develop the resources to generate their own amusement, so they become dependent on screens.”
What are your thoughts on Disney’s move? Do you agree that too much media too soon limits a child’s development?
How much TV do you let your children watch and how do you limit it?