O14: Televiewing and Children’s Development

Participants will be introduced to the risks associated with excessive early childhood televiewing and develop an understanding of the current recommended guidelines for children’s television exposure. My research agenda in Montreal (Canada) addresses modifiable factors in early childhood that influence human development. From birth through the preschool years, exponential brain maturation is characterized by increasingly effective cognitive problem-solving, communication, and interpersonal skills. These skills acquired during this developmental period are the result of rapid brain growth. Consequently, children are particularly sensitive to environmental input through live social interaction and active play with persons and objects across different social contexts. Rapid and extensive brain growth also implies considerable vulnerability in less stimulating or neurotoxic home environments. The overall goal of this congress is to help children and adolescents strengthen and maximize their potential and to build satisfying lives. Television viewing is a common pastime in very young children. Although some preschool programming is geared toward developmentally appropriate content, our  research (and that of others) suggests that excessive screen time reduces time spent engaging in developmentally enriching activities and tasks which require more mental effort and thus foster brain development. The time spent televiewing diminishes essential social exchanges and child monitoring in the home environment, which is daunting given that family interaction remains the primary vehicle of intellectual and social development in childhood. Thus, early childhood televiewing represents an intellectually and physically sedentary activity that can be considered neurotoxic when it becomes an excessive pastime. We will discuss the bio-psycho-social outcomes associated with too much televiewing in early childhood.