Aussie kids, television and videos: a generation of zombie viewers?

A television set is present in most children’s lives right from birth. Interest in early childhood television viewing has been based on the premise that cognitive and social development during this life stage is probably more impressionable that it is in later childhood and adolescence. Therefore, there may be long term implications for children’s development based on their early years of television and video viewing.

In my recent study, the television and video viewing habits and responses of young children as reported by their mothers were explored. The study involved 314 mothers of 3- to 6-year-old children. There were 156 female and 158 male children with the average age of children being 4 years. Eighty percent of children were either first or second born and 53 per cent had a sibling.

The findings of the study showed that for television viewing:

• Most young children watch television on a daily basis; 28.6 per cent watch television once a day.
• About 58 per cent of children watch television several times a day; only 27.9 per cent of mothers reported watching this amount of television when they were young children.
• Boys are more likely than girls to watch television several times a day; whereas girls are likely to watch television once a day or several times a week.
• The most popular television programs are, in order: Play School, Hi-5, Blues Clues and Bob the Builder.

These findings are in line with research in the US showing that the average American preschooler watches 2-3 hours of television a day and that educational programs are occupying the time of our young children. While in the US Sesame Street is one of the most popular shows, this is not the case with Aussie kids.

The results of video viewing habits showed that: .

• Only 6.3 per cent of children watch videos several times a day; 43.9 per cent watch videos several times a week, and 21.9 per cent watch videos daily.
• 3-year-olds are less likely than 4- and 5-year-olds to watch animated videos on a regular basis. Older children are more likely to watch videos weekly than are younger children.
• The most popular videos were, in order: Shrek, Toy Story, Wiggles, Hi-5, Toy Story II, and Snow White.

The video viewing findings are not in line with recent research conducted in the US showing that the majority of children aged 2-4 years watch videos daily. Aussie kids appear to be spending less time watching videos than US kids. However, 72 per cnet of the children in this study are watching videos at least several times a week. Given this level of media exposure parents and educators have become increasingly concerned about the quality of children’s programs and how television and video viewing impacts on children’s development. Research on television/video viewing and its educational benefits is prolific. In contrast, the topic of television/video watching and its impact on young children’s imagination is scarce.

One of the most essential activities throughout childhood is pretend or imaginative play. Children who exhibit a great deal of imagination in their play are likely to have better language and concentration skills and to be more empathetic, happier and more self-assured than children who exhibit low levels of imagination.

The results of my study showed that animated videos that provide a "fun" and "magical world" appear to encourage elaborate pretend play especially in terms of role play. This finding may support the Stimulation Hypothesis, where characters and events from television/video are taken, transformed and incorporated in children’s play and that this stimulation results in enhanced pretend play in terms of quality and quantity. Of course, further research is needed to better understand the association between animated videos and imaginary play.

A further finding of the study was that the most common responses to television programs and videos were singing, dancing, laughing, clapping, and mimicking voices. Clearly, Aussie kids are active viewers of television and videos. They do not sit in front of the television like zombies. They interact with the programs and videos they watch and incorporate events and characters from videos into their play activities. Whilst the majority of mothers reported that their children’s favourite television programs were Play School and Hi 5 and their favourite videos were Shrek and Toy Story, all of which contain content that is age appropriate, the good news is that about one tenth of the sample of mothers reported that their children’s favourite television programs or videos were Digimon and Pokemon, hard-hitting action cartoons that portray lots of violence.

The fact that so few children watch violent cartoons may be indicative of a greater awareness among parents about the long term implications of viewing programs with high levels of violence. Aggressive behaviours in childhood if not treated and changed may lead to aggressive adult behaviours. Parental control is advised in order to reduce any negative impact constant exposure to high levels of violence may have on our young children.

A final finding of the study was that mothers have positive attitudes toward their children’s television and video viewing. They approve of animated videos specifically designed for young children, such as Animated Disney videos, and describe these videos as promoting imagination, fantasy, bravery, happiness, and magic. They described their own experience of animated films in a similarly positive way, citing words such as fun, excitement and pleasure.

Research into television and video viewing and how they impact on our young children’s lives is imperative. Given that television and videos are a ubiquitous part of most young children’s lives researchers should focus on examining which factors lead to positive behavioural outcomes and which lead to negative outcomes. Insisting on no television or videos for young children flies in the face of reality and of empirically based studies that reveal that television is not all BAD. Having said that, there is a paucity of research on video viewing habits and responses. Future research is needed in this area.