Research and policy
Research: The Effects of Background Television on the Toy Play Behaviour of Very Young Children
1 Jul 2008
Fifty 12-24 and 36-month-olds played with a variety of toys for one hour. For half of the hour, a game show played in the background on a monaural TV set. During the other half hour, the TV was off. The children looked at the TV for only a few seconds at a time and less than once per minute. Nevertheless, background TV significantly reduced toy play episode length as well as focused attention during play. Thus, background television disrupts very young children's play behaviour even when they pay little overt attention to it. These findings have implications for subsequent cognitive development.
Download the full report from the interscience website.
