What They Say
We’ve all seen reports that too much screen time is bad for children, in particular. However in a study published in Frontiers in Psychology, a team from the UK and France collaborated in a review of 478 studies published over the last two decades. The result of the study was that the effect of TV or screen exposure depends on the quality of the content.
“Weak narrative, fast pace editing, and complex stimuli can make it difficult for a child to extract or generalise information. But when screen content is appropriate for a child’s age, it’s likely to have a positive effect, particularly when it’s designed to encourage interaction.”
What We Think
It makes a change to see something that is not so negative about screen use! In my own family, my wife used to regularly watch ‘the soaps’ with my children. I saw it as not particularly useful until she explained that she often got the chance to talk about social and behavioural issues when they were raised on the programmes. (BR)
