Excerpted from Chapter Nine of The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease (Penguin, 2006, 6th edition). For a list of all topics covered here and in the print edition see Chapter Nine question list.

CHAPTER 9: TV, Audio, & Technology—
     Hurting or Helping Literacy? — continued

What exactly is so wrong with television?

Until recently, the answer was "nothing." It was the abuse of the set that caused the problem. TV was just an innocent bystander to parent neglect or irresponsibility. At least, that's what many experts felt. New research, however, is getting closer to identifying TV as more of an accomplice. But even if the research fails to indict, all of the research points to the dangers of over-viewing among all age groups, with the youngest being the most prone to danger. Let's start with that age group and work upward.

1. When the television viewing habits of 2,500 children were tracked and examined by researchers at Seattle's Children's Hospital, the doctors concluded that for each hour of daily TV viewed by the child, the risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder by age 7 increased by 10 percent.¹ (ADHD is now the most common childhood behavioral disorder.) For more on these pediatric studies, click Toddlers.

In light of that finding, the Kaiser Family Foundation's most recent media research² offers statistics that don’t bode well for future classrooms:

• Among children age two or younger, 59 percent watch TV daily and 42 percent watch DVD's or videos;
• Among children age two or younger, average daily screen time is 2:48 hours (TV plus DVD-video);
• Televisions are a permanent part of the bedroom for 30 percent of children by age three and 43 percent of children by age six;
• In homes with children age six or younger, the TV is left on at least 50 percent of the time, even if no one is watching, and 30 percent have the set on “almost all” or “most” of the time;
• Among families with children under age six, only 34 percent subscribe to a newspaper.

Why replicate such sadness?

Today's young parents, awash in their ambitions to keep their child one step ahead of the neighbors' child, are buying into an electronic culture that is one big suede shoe operation. Remember the hucksters who used to be pushing their snake oil products off covered wagons and then moved to late-night infomercials? They just encamped in the nursery, promoting series of toys, DVDs, videos, and gadgets that will make your child into an infant Einstein. Considering the unhappy childhood of Einstein, who would want it? Apparently millions of parents, all of them ignorant of comments like this from the director of child research at one of the nation's biggest toy companies: "There is no proof that this type of toy helps children become smarter."³ Child development experts caution against the do-all toys intended to boost IQ. As one critic explained, “The most useful toy is the one that requires the most activation on the part of a young child. The more they have to use their minds and bodies to make something work, the more they are going to learn.” There is ample research, however, to substantiate the claim "There's a sucker born every minute." That could easily be amended to "sucker-parent."

SOURCE: Dina L. G. Borzekowski and Thomas N. Robinson, "The remote, the house, and the no. 2 pencil," Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. 2005, 159, pp. 607-613.

2. Once in school, the impact of heavy viewing is reflected in student achievements in both reading and math. In a study of 348 ethnically diverse third-graders from six California schools, the presence of a television set in the child's bedroom was significantly associated with lower math, reading, and language arts scores.⁴ (chart, right). Kaiser media studies show bedroom TV's always correlate to more viewing hours.⁵ A TV in the child's bedroom spells more viewing and lower scores.

By age eight, 60 percent of children not only lived in a home with three televisions but also had a TV in their bedroom.⁶ Kaiser found children with a TV in their bedrooms watched 90 minutes more daily (10 hours more weekly). If a video game is in the bedroom, the child plays 32 minutes more daily; and the availability of a bedroom computer doubles the usage when compared with a child who doesn't have it in the room (90 minutes vs. 47 minutes).

NEXT: Can't you see how hard it is to monitor or limit children's TV or gaming hours?

Chapter Nine — p. 1   p. 2   p. 3   p. 4   Footnotes