this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2023
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I do not understand the amount of uninformed objection to the presented results in a number of comments here ... you can't just discount the results of a peer-reviewed study with some generic knee-jerk interjection off the top of your head. Read the article. It details which covariates were considered and how they were taken into account. Income bracket, educational background, gender, .... all this shit is not new to researchers.
Don't get me wrong: JAMA Pediatrics being a reputable journal shouldn't lull you into complacency, but JFC, just because you don't agree with the findings of a study doesn't mean you have to dismiss it completely on first glance.
I do not see any breakdown between quantity/quality though.
It’s one thing to plop a kid in front of “junk food TV”, compared to wholesome TV, educational TV/factual documentaries, or educational games (like Homer or ABC Mouse).
Yes, obviously human interaction is necessary for human development, and more screen time will likely mean less human interaction, unless a caregiver is actively engaging the child about the content.
I still contend that there’s “good screentime” and “bad screentime”, and like food, the secret sauce is moderation.
It's not the quality of the show or the content that matters. Have you ever put a small child in front of the TV? It's like turning their brains off. To be honest it's quite startling.
It doesn't matter if its "wholesome" content or not - there is a physical decreases of core brain activity as the child disengages from the world.
Give them access to only two things: Amazon Kindle and/or Libby (no audiobooks) for learning how to read, and a Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck.
The game console should be loaded up with puzzle games like Crossniq+ or Tetris or Pokémon Shuffle, platformers like Super Mario Odyssey or Super Lucky's Tale, and text-heavy and child-friendly RPGs like Pokémon or Squid Odyssey.
If you get a Nintendo Switch, subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online so your child can play emulated games from older consoles. The parental controls work with the emulation library IIRC and old RPGs will encourage your kid to learn to read them.
If you get a Steam Deck, it's more complicated and there's no parental control integration, but you can pirate the old console games and hand-pick which games are loaded onto the console in the first place.
I know you probably think this is just more screen time, but video games are far more mentally stimulating than purely passive TV/Movie content, healthier than YouTube for the 1-7 year old age group, and a hell of a lot healthier than TikTok.
Speaking of which, last piece of advice; If TikTok or a service similar to - or more addictive than - it still exists when your kid gets old enough for that kind of thing, don't let them use it. It's debatable how much dopamine addiction is a real thing, but TikTok is a seriously bad influence. You know the "boyfriend with a motorcycle and intentions that are most definitely not honorable" trope? TikTok is set up so that idiots who almost get themselves killed doing stupid things are given the biggest audiences by the sensationalist algorithm, and I know the peer pressure argument is iffy, but I can't exactly trust idiot teenagers to not kill themselves trying to swallow a spoonful of cinnamon powder in a single gulp (yes, that could actually cause them to choke and suffocate) and I definitely don't trust a platform that acts as a digital version of that one dumbass "friend" you had in high school who kept getting you into trouble by daring you to be a total yahoo in public.
Hopefully this helps, there's no instruction manual for raising kids but don't limit their experiences purely based on feelings. You're right about video content but games and books (even comic books) are not at all the same in their effects on kid's development.
I'll tell you that even at 4 I see differences in my son's behavior if he watches Turtles or if he watches something like Puffin Rock.
This point is actually acknowledged in the study findings under "Strengths and Limitations":
The original data used in the study did not allow this differentiation but these findings can be used as a starting point for further research.