Down the Tube: Videos for Tots Don't Aid Learning
Despite the popularity of baby-genius DVDs, there's no evidence they boost intellect
Parents have embraced baby TV; sales of Baby Einstein products alone hit $200 million in 2005. But despite the products' commercial success, scientists are just starting to examine whether television time with these shows helps or hurts the very young. The evidence so far:
• There is no research that supports the video companies' claims that programs aimed at children under age 2 are educational or help babies learn.
• A 2003 study by Patricia Kuhl, a researcher at the University of Washington (and Meltzoff's wife), found that 9-month-old American babies who were repeatedly exposed to Mandarin Chinese speakers were able to recognize the language's phonetic nuances later. But babies who watched videos of the same people speaking Chinese were not.
• A 2004 study by Dmitri Christakis, a researcher at Seattle Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, found that the more toddlers watched TV, the more likely they were to have symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder once they reached elementary school. (Christakis collaborated with Meltzoff on the current research.)
• A 2005 review by Daniel Anderson, a psychologist at the University of Massachusetts who is a leading researcher and consultant on educational television, found that children usually learn substantially less from videos than they would from a live presentation.
• Talking and reading to very young children is the most effective way to teach them new words, researchers say.
Susan McLain, general manager of the Baby Einstein Co., disputed the most recent study findings, noting in an E-mail that the researchers didn't directly observe whether viewing baby DVDs or videos had a positive or negative impact on vocabulary acquisition. Indeed, the research found only an association between TV watching and slower language acquisition, not cause and effect. "It might be true that this is terrible for children, but the bottom line is we don't know," says Elizabeth Vandewater, director of the Center for Research on Interactive Technology, Television, and Children at the University of Texas. "We know nothing about the neurological and developmental implications of screen time for very young children."
"Baby Einstein tools are designed as...a catalyst to promote interaction between parents and their young children," McLain wrote. But for many if not most parents, tiny-kid vid is prized as an opportunity to grab a few precious moments of grown-up time.
Since 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics has urged parents to shun TV and computers altogether for kids before age 2. "Yes, I know you need to take a shower, and yes, I know you need to make dinner," says Ali Brown, a pediatrician in Austin who represents the doctors' group on issues concerning children and mass media. "But there's a value to independent play. Your 4-month-old can take a rattle and learn how to shake it. Real-world experiences are much more valuable than watching something."
Or, as Meltzoff says: "Einstein never had a Baby Einstein tape, and he seems to have done just fine, thank you."
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