Children benefit from the right sort of screen time - life - 26 March 2014 - New Scientist - 2 views
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David Caleb on 25 Nov 14Great quote - no effect on those that played video games.
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For instance, a recent longitudinal study of 11,000 British children found that those who watched TV for 3 hours or more a day at age 5 had a small increase in behavioural problems two years later compared with those who watched for under an hour. But they found no effects at all for those who played computer games.
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Passively watching TV is not the same as learning to read on a touchscreen, which is not the same as killing monsters on a console
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First of all, lumping all screens into one category is not helpful. "Screen time is a really enticing measure because it's simple – it's usually described as the number of hours a day using screen-based technology. But it's completely meaningless,"
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"Children will learn from what they watch, whether that means learning letters and numbers, slapstick humour or aggressive behaviour,
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"The best research suggests that the content children view is the best predictor of cognitive effects,"
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The study found that all the children enjoy reading more when they look at stories using books and a touchscreen compared to just books.
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hard to tease apart whether screen time actually causes the effects or whether they are linked in some other way
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"It is impossible to determine with certainty that TV is causing obesity, and it is likely that other factors are involved in the complex problem of childhood obesity,
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Her own studies have shown that children who struggle to learn using books often made more progress with iPads.
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research in schools also found that iPads made children more cooperative and helped quieter kids to speak up
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children who watch age-appropriate, educational TV programmes often do better on tests of school readiness.
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What is becoming clear is that it's not the technologies themselves we should be worried out but how they are used and how people interact with them
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A lot of it is common sense. Don't unthinkingly hand over your device. There are educational apps whose benefits are backed up by research, says Flewitt.
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Five hours sitting in front of the TV is not the same as 5 hours of some TV, a couple of hours playing on Dance Dance Revolution or some other kind of active game, followed by a Skype session with a grandparent.