TV in children's lives: when, how much and what to watch

Television in our homes today is commonplace and an everyday reality. A couple of decades ago, children counted the days and hours to watch their favorite cartoon. Today you can watch at least a hundred episodes in a row and at once.

Dozens of children's TV channels broadcast almost around the clock. You can find content for absolutely every taste. Children tend to spend a lot of time in front of screens. Is TV harmful or beneficial for children of different ages? In our article we will try to answer this question in detail.

At what age can you watch TV?

Pediatricians and psychologists definitely do not recommend watching television for children under 2 years of age. First of all, this is due to physiology. Parents often notice that even infants react to TV. But they are attracted to bright, flashing pictures and sounds. It’s definitely not worth allowing such kids to “watch” TV.

The fact is that their brain, nervous system, speech, organs of vision, hearing are still immature and are just being formed. For their proper development, the child must look at surrounding objects, moving and stationary, listen to sounds around, and not just those coming from the screen, and interact with living people. Children learn only in contact with an adult.

Until the age of 3-4 years, children are attracted only by movement on the TV screen. They do not yet know how to distinguish between the real and the imaginary. They transfer what happens in the cartoon to real life.

It is acceptable to allow a child to watch TV from the age of 2-3, but no more than 20 minutes a day and under strict control of the quality of the content. But the longer a child lives without a TV in his life, the better for his physical and mental health.

Pediatricians' opinions on the benefits and harms of TV for infants

The dangers and benefits of television for a child can be judged based on the experience of pediatricians and scientists who conducted such studies back in the twentieth century. Thus, the first in this area were American scientists who, based on research, made a statement on behalf of the American Academy of Pediatrics that children under two years of age should not watch television.

To substantiate this statement, they pointed to the fact that until this age the baby’s brain is actively developing, growing and cannot adequately perceive information from the air. The initial foundations of development in a child under the age of 2 years occur in the emotional, social sphere, and to obtain them only direct contacts with people are necessary.

Modern pediatricians are no longer too categorical on this issue if the mother watches TV in the presence of the baby, but they don’t sing its praises either.

There is no clear opinion that watching TV causes irreparable harm to infants, but pediatricians also do not promise much benefit from television programs.

Is there any benefit from TV?

Of course, it’s not worth excluding television from a child’s world completely. There are also benefits from it:

1. Expanding your horizons . Through the screen you can get acquainted with different countries, traditions, cultures, and gain new knowledge in different areas. This can be a powerful source of inspiration and desire to explore the world.
2. Development of intelligence . With the help of modern technologies, children are presented with exciting information written in thick and boring encyclopedias. Few people are interested in studying such books, but learning with the help of video content is easy and enjoyable.
3. Enrichment of vocabulary . The child hears the correctly delivered speech of TV presenters and TV characters, learns many new words, the meaning of which he will certainly ask his parents questions about. It is only important to always answer them and get to the bottom of it.
4. Common interests with peers . Children who don’t watch TV at all risk becoming “black sheep” in children’s society. Not knowing popular characters from cartoons or TV shows, they do not maintain a conversation and feel excluded from the team. For very young children this is not critical; children find a common language in playing together. But the older the child, the more important it is for him to be “on the same wavelength” with his peers. And this cannot be ignored.

Parents' misconceptions about the benefits of TV

The modern world of television is large, diverse and exciting. At first glance, he has a lot to offer. But, in fact, for harmonious development, children need something completely different.

Filling them only with knowledge from the screen, often fragmentary and not age-appropriate, is absolutely ineffective and harmful. A child learns, first of all, from an adult with whom he has contact and a trusting relationship.

Reading books, walking together, observing nature, creativity, participating in the daily life of the family - these are the things that truly develop and prepare for future life. And informational television programs should only complement the learning process.

Sometimes parents stimulate and encourage non-speaking children to watch TV “so that they can speak sooner.” But the child will speak faster if you communicate with him, look at toys together and talk about everything you see around him.

Funny pictures on TV that move, make sounds and speak do not motivate them to voice them. But when a child looks at pictures in a book or holds a simple toy in his hands, he has to “make” these characters sound - out loud or mentally. First, the child pronounces primitive sounds - “kva-kva”, “bi-bi”; later, when verbs appear in speech, the plots and “speech” of toys and pictures become more complex.

With TV, you don’t need to make any effort: cartoon characters actively communicate, tell stories and move independently. The baby can only passively watch. This does not encourage speaking on your own at all.

TV should be watched in moderation

Despite the fact that heated debates about the influence of televisions continue to this day, and all of them are known to the public, parents do not pay attention to this. And children continue to watch their favorite cartoons and TV shows for hours, weeks, months... As a result, the child gets nervous overexcitement, eye fatigue and lack of communication with parents and peers, which is often worse than radiation. When the problem reaches its peak, parents begin to sound the alarm.

If you belong to the ranks of those parents for whom it is important that their child develops correctly and is surrounded by maternal love, then you should find out what you can use to replace the TV:

• joint walks or sporting events;
• Reading books;
• drawing and sculpting;
• trips to the theater, zoo, etc.

All newfangled gadgets can be used usefully. For example, you can keep your baby busy with a cartoon for the time you need to do household chores. But this does not mean that you can cook, wash and clean all day. It’s better to involve the baby in all this, because even a toddler who has just gotten back on his feet will happily tinker with cereals or “help” wash the floors. But TV should be present in his life as little as possible. Let this be some kind of ritual. For example, you can turn on a cartoon before dinner, after which he will eat and calmly lie down to rest.

It’s not a good idea to let a two-month-old baby watch TV; it’s better to turn on some nice music and start a mobile phone.

From all of the above, we can conclude that the TV itself and even the stories shown on it are not as harmful as the child’s inaction at the moment when he is watching it. After all, instead of an hour-long movie show, he could chat with you, with friends, get some fresh air, or help around the house. Therefore, the main advice is this: let your child watch TV, but do not forget about communication and development.

Negative influence of TV

Unfortunately, TV really does more harm than good. We list all the negative factors below:

1. Negative effect on the organs of vision . For the normal formation of the visual organs, it is important to correctly dose visual loads. The TV picture is projected onto the retina of the eye using a light mass. To see a clear image, the child instinctively tenses the eye muscles. The picture moves and has a lot of details, which leads to even more eye strain.

Thus, by spending more than the prescribed amount of time on the screen every day, the child systematically overstrains his visual system. The result is eye fatigue, headaches, and, as a result, visual impairment.

2. Negative effect on the nervous system . The younger the children, the less their brains can absorb information from the programs and cartoons they watch. Lack of life experience and an immature nervous system do not allow us to analyze what we see. All this results in overexcitation of the nervous system, which affects the child’s mood and behavior, his sleep, and learning ability.

3. Delayed speech development . A child aged about one year begins to pronounce the first words, then sentences, and then he can already formulate his thought. But prolonged exposure to a screen negatively affects the formation of coherent speech.

The ability to speak and communicate comes to children in the process of interacting with people and repeating after adults. When replacing live communication with a TV screen, there is a delay in the development of correct and competent oral speech.

4. Negative impact on brain development . A child who spends a lot of time watching TV does not develop imagination, logic, or the ability to think, analyze and draw conclusions. TV gives ready-made answers instead of allowing the child to look for them on his own. The TV turns into a “consumer” who obediently absorbs everything that pours from the screen. Skills such as self-control and planning of one’s actions do not develop.

5. Decreased ability to imagine and create . To come up with something new and create, a child needs to be able to keep himself busy and sometimes get bored. But TV doesn’t allow you to do this, offering ready-made entertainment for every taste. Abuse of watching TV suppresses the creative abilities of a preschooler and prevents them from developing.

6. Impaired social skills . For their development, a person needs live communication. The ability to feel the interlocutor, guess his mood, maintain a conversation, organize joint activities - all this is developed only through direct experience of communication with peers and adults.

7. Provoking neuroses . Watching TV shows and films that are not age appropriate, with violent and frightening scenes, can lead to the development of fears and nightmares in a child. This should not be allowed under any circumstances.

8. Problems with physical condition, motor skills . Watching TV is a passive pastime. But to be healthy, children need to move as much as possible. Sitting for a long time leads to problems with posture, the child develops poorly physically, which will negatively affect his health and quality of life in the future.

9. Eating disorders . Some parents turn on the TV to feed their child. Having looked at the flashing funny pictures, the child obediently opens his mouth. But this magical method will bring many problems in the future. Children who are fed with cartoons do not learn to control the feelings of hunger and satiety, and they develop incorrect eating behavior. Therefore, it is strictly not recommended to turn on the TV while eating.

Children and adults love to snack in front of the TV screen. This is a bad habit that leads to overeating, consuming large amounts of tasty and unhealthy food. After all, when we get carried away by watching, we stop controlling what and how much we put in our mouths.

How many hours a day can you spend in front of a screen?

Here are the recommendations of pediatricians, psychologists and teachers:

1. From 2 to 4 years old, you can allow your child to watch TV shows or cartoons for no more than 20 minutes a day.
2. From 4 to 7 years old, children already follow the plot, compare themselves with their favorite characters and want to be like them.
3. Children over 7 years old can already distinguish reality well from television images. They have formed ideas about time and space, they begin to analyze what is happening and reason. At the age of 7-10 years, it is permissible to spend no more than 30-50 minutes a day in front of the TV screen.
4. By the age of 10-11, the content of the content being viewed comes to the fore. He already has his own opinion and preferences, so he chooses interesting programs and films himself. At this age, a child can watch TV 1-3 hours a day.
5. By the age of 12-13, most children become bored with television. Many of them switch to video games.

The debate about whether television is harmful or beneficial for children began exactly from the moment television appeared. The first studies and conclusions about the influence of TV were made back when blue screens were not in every home. Today we are forced to admit that televisions and computers, tablets and phones have become real “virtual nannies” for our children. The influence of gadgets on a child’s health and psyche is regularly studied by scientists and discussed at scientific conferences. The data provided is contradictory, but the main thing is that everyone agrees: we are not able to slow down progress and ban the use of electronic devices by children.

Anna Skavitina, psychologist, analyst, member of the IAAP (International Association of Analytical Psychology), supervisor of the ROAP and the Jung Institute (Zurich), expert of the magazine “Psychologies”

Modern parents most often adhere to one of two completely opposite trends.

Opposing Parents

Such parents categorically prohibit their children from watching TV and using the computer, and they try to do this for as long as possible. The most they are ready for is filmstrips.

Idea: gadgets harm the health and development of a child, damage the musculoskeletal system, guarantee myopia, promote obesity, instill violence, activate aggression, and provoke hyperactivity. The child should grow up in a natural environment, as it was before.

Disadvantages of this approach: it is more difficult for a child to find a common language with peers, he is “out of the loop”, feels like a “black sheep”, his horizons often suffer or his knowledge does not always coincide with the knowledge of his peers, he does not learn to use complex technical devices, does not use them for search for new knowledge. As a result, he tries to deceive his parents and secretly uses the gadgets of his friends and classmates. Whereas “opposing parents” believe that it is never too late to catch up with peers: when the child grows up, his psyche becomes stronger and let him use gadgets, but to a limited extent.

Parents who keep up with the times

Such parents believe that limiting their children’s use of TV and gadgets is pointless, since the child will still find a way to overcome the ban.

The idea: gadgets free mothers and fathers from being overloaded with children, and children receive all the necessary information about life through TV.

Disadvantages of this approach: Children spend many hours a day in front of screens without moving. Such children often experience delayed mental and/or speech development. Their imagination does not develop, as they consume ready-made stories. Parenting begins to be influenced by TV, and not by mom and dad. And what he will teach is not always clear if the content of the programs is not limited.

Psychologist's opinion

Psychologists do not like extremes. They advocate for a careful attitude towards the individual, for both the child and the parents to use television for development, and not for a break for mothers and fathers from their own children. Scientists have not conducted extensive research on the time a child can spend in front of a TV or computer screen per day without harm to health.

However, many resources refer to the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). And she, by the way, prohibits children under three years old from even showing gadgets. Preschool children over three years old are allowed to spend no more than 30 minutes in front of the TV screen, elementary school children - 30-60 minutes, and middle and high school students from 1 to 3 hours. Interestingly, this information is not available on the official WHO website, and the report “Early Childhood Development in the European Region: Needs, Trends and Policy Development” makes virtually no mention of the influence of television at all.

Let's take a closer look at each age group.

Children from 0 to 12 months

For children under one year old, TV is definitely not good for their development. No programs marked with an age mark of “0+” help develop a child. A famous experiment showed that a baby's brain activity while watching a television program for children is no different from what happens in his head when he looks at the rotating drum of a washing machine. A baby up to one year old develops communication with significant loved ones, sitting in his mother’s arms or in a sling, and a warm, calm environment in the house. It is advisable to exclude even background TV viewing in front of the child.

Children from one to two years old

At this age, children are already beginning to understand that a TV, computer, telephone are such valuable objects that adults often use, and, accordingly, reach for them, show that they need to give them the remote control, hold the phone, press buttons. During this period, it is advisable not to watch TV with the volume turned up to maximum, and also to avoid watching programs demonstrating cruelty, as they provoke additional anxiety in parents, which, in turn, is transmitted to the child. As a result, the baby may behave restlessly.

If you manage to resist showing your child television and computer programs at this age, great. By the way, in France, for example, it is generally prohibited to produce programs for children under two years of age.

Children from 2 to 3 years old

The age when you can try to introduce children to their first cartoons. Look for simple animation with clear plots, a slow pace of frame changes, and soft music. Limit viewing to a few minutes. Do not turn on the TV with food, as this later provokes eating disorders.

Children from 3 to 5 years old

The time when a child can watch cartoons and the first educational programs. At this age, it is important for children to receive information from different sources: from parents - so far the most important educators, peers, from books and media, for example, magazines or television. It is important to control what your child watches: he masters the norms of behavior from cartoons and programs, learns to communicate with peers, and unconsciously tries on different roles of heroes.

It is better that you watch a cartoon or television program together for the first time, so that if necessary, an adult has the opportunity to explain the actions of the characters and the events taking place on the screen. It is advisable not to watch TV for more than 20-30 minutes in a row; after watching, be sure to move around or take a walk. It is best to watch programs that are recommended for age.

Children over 5 years old

Children at this age are actively developing emotional intelligence, their psyche becomes more stable and ready for a more intensive regime, a fast pace of frame changes, and information-rich video sequences. When choosing programs that interest your child in a meaningful way, make sure that he does not sit in front of the screen for more than 30 minutes. From this age you can (but not every day!) be allowed to watch a full-length cartoon, film, or TV show.

It is important!

Don't rely on age labels. If there is “0+” next to the title, this does not mean that the cartoon is of high quality and useful and can be shown to newborns. This only means that it does not contain scenes of violence, does not promote smoking, and so on. Make an effort: choose programs for your child that you find important, educational, and developmental.

Ask yourself every time: what will my child learn when he watches this? Will he learn something important? Do I want my baby to learn this right now? Even if you turn on the TV to entertain or distract your child, you should know that while watching his brain does not rest, but works: it remembers, learns and takes an example.

Now there are many high-quality children's programs that are developed by teachers and psychologists who are trying to lay moral foundations, useful knowledge and skills in programs recommended for viewing by children and parents. Become an expert for your child - choose worthy content for him!

How to make watching TV safe?

You should not place the TV in the children's room. Let it not compete with games, creativity, and reading. Adults often have the TV on in the background. And children quickly pick up this habit. Therefore, first of all, adults need to educate themselves and set an example.

It is imperative to monitor the time your child spends in front of the screen. After all, self-control in children is still poorly developed; it is difficult for them to tear themselves away from the TV.

A great way to control the quality of the content your children watch is to watch with them and then discuss what they see. During a conversation, it is important not only to express your own opinion, but also to listen to the child’s opinion and show respect for his tastes and interests.

When watching TV, you need to be at least 2-3 meters away from the screen. An acceptable distance is measured by 3-5 diagonals. The larger the diagonal of the TV, the further it should be located from the eyes. Do not watch TV from the side, in the dark or in too bright light. Medium-intensity lighting that doesn't strain your eyes too much is best.

How to wean your child off TV

• for starters, reduce your TV viewing time to 1.5-2 hours a day;
• make a list of programs or cartoons that your child can watch;
• organize a reward/punishment system. Cut out the pros and cons from cardboard. If the child completed it within the allowed time, add a plus to him; if he completed it five minutes earlier, another plus; but if he didn’t complete it, add one minus for every extra five minutes of viewing;
• Agree in advance how many pluses the prize will cost. For example, a new doll or car - 6 pluses, a trip to the park - 9 pluses, ice cream - 2 pluses.
• try to find a replacement TV. Go for walks, visits, etc. with your child more often;
• Try not to get carried away by TV programs in the presence of your baby. Otherwise, it will be difficult for you to explain why he is not allowed, but you are allowed. And in general, personal example is the most effective.

Of course, if your baby has already developed a persistent TV addiction, you will have a hard time.

Try to live in such a way that he has many more important activities - enroll in early development classes, visit the pool, go hiking. A child should live a full real life, not a virtual or television one.

What can a child watch?

A correct program or cartoon for children must have the following criteria:

• a calm and kind cartoon with unhurried action and not too quickly changing images gives the child time to think and assimilate what he sees;
• the plot should be understandable to a child of this particular age;
• Interactive programs that encourage children to answer questions are useful for children;
• Children are also developed by musical programs and cartoons that develop hearing and teach dance movements.

It is important from birth to instill in a child a taste for the wonderful art of animation and cinema, to look for interesting and educational programs together and to explore this world together. With today's access to the information space, censorship can only be our own. Parents themselves are obliged to teach their child to distinguish a bad cartoon from a good one, a stupid program from an educational one.

What should children not watch?

The child’s psyche has not yet been formed; the baby has not yet developed a critical perception of information. Therefore, the choice of content for children lies entirely with adults.

Children of any age should not see scenes of violence and, in general, all films and programs intended for adult audiences.

There is no need to show children cartoons where the main characters behave aggressively, harm others, or demonstrate life-threatening behavior. Bad behavior should be condemned and good behavior should be encouraged. This is the only way children develop the concepts of good and evil and justice.