Little Miss A is just over 3 months and very much a little sponge at the moment.
She’s becoming increasingly aware, mesmerised and curious about her surroundings and the environment she’s in.
Every day there’s a small change in her development. She’s growing so fast it seems, a little too fast for mummy! 🙂
Being a little sponge and soaking everything in, means that J and I have to be so much more mindful of what we expose her to (especially what we expose her to without realising).
Netflix and iPhone scrolling, looking at you! Gone are the days — for me anyway — of feeling comfortable watching movies on Netflix while nursing Little Miss A … she’s honestly picking everything up at the moment.
While some things are great in terms of exposure — baby Mozart (and other classical music), black and white/contrast toys, books (she really loves her pop-out ‘I Love You’ book at the moment — watching her reaction is the cutest thing ever!) … we even bought a piano keyboard the other week to start exposing her to the piano — other things aren’t so great.
Never to early to start exposure to music!
Not so great things?
Obviously movies/shows on in the background, video games playing while she’s on her play mat …. I’ve even picked up on Little Miss A noticing when/if I’m using my iPhone too much.
One time it was as if she literally became sad/disappointed when I was scrolling through my iPhone rather than paying her attention as I lay beside her. Oof – the pang of guilt when she turned her little face away from me with what looked like a little sad expression on her little face. Mum guilt is real.
Speaking of screen exposure, J and I had a chat about this exact thing just the other day, specifically about video games playing on the TV while Little Miss A plays on her play mat.
In this specific example, we had Super Mario Party (or something similar) playing on the TV and noticed how stimulated Little Miss A was getting by the colourful characters and bright, colour lights on the screen — responding playfully to what was on the screen, babbling excitedly and all … she was becoming increasingly excited by what was on the screen.
Anyhoo!
While it was super cute to see her become so mesmerised and responsive by what she was seeing, the issue was the potential overstimulation here.
I noticed when I took her for some book time and a nap shortly afterwards that she didn’t seem quite as attentive to her favourite book, following exposure to the video game on the TV screen, compared to normal. Needless to say, we’ve swiftly stopped having video games etc., on the TV screen when she’s on her play mat.
And it seems our concern and cautious approach with screen exposure isn’t unfounded.
We’re not just over-worried paranoid new parents!
A recently-released study in the medical journal, JAMA Pediatrics supports the need to be careful when it comes to kids’ exposure to screen time and screen use, as it can affect kids’ language and communication skills.
The first-of-its kinds study found that for every minute of screen time toddlers are exposed to at home, they hear fewer adult words, make fewer vocalisations and engage in fewer back-and-forth conversations with their parents.
Little Miss A isn’t a toddler yet … we still have a ways to go there … but better to approach with caution early on, I say!
As part of the study (you can read the study in detail here), researchers — led by Telethon Kids Institute Senior Research Officer, Dr Mary Brushe — tracked 220 Australian families over a 2.5-year period to measure the relationship between family screen use and children’s language environment.
“We wanted to understand how much screen time children were exposed to during the early years and whether that interfered with the amount of language these kids heard and spoke in their home,” says Dr Brushe.
Dr Brushe explains screen time may be getting in the way of childrens’ experience of talking and interaction with their parents, which is critical for their early language development,
The study showed the more screen time children were exposed to, the less parent-child interaction they experienced during the critical early years.
“Our findings support the notion of ‘technoference’ as a real issue for Australian families, whereby young children’s exposure to screen time is interfering with opportunities to talk and interact in their home environment,” says Dr Brushe.
“The results were most profound when children reached 3 years of age.
“Just one minute of screen time was associated with 7 fewer adult words, 5 fewer child vocalisations and 1 less back-and-forth interaction.”
Dr Brushe says the findings suggest children whose families follow current World Health Organization (WHO) screen time guidelines – 1 hour a day for children aged 36 months – could be missing out on up to 397 adult words, 294 vocalisations, and 68 conversational turns every day.
In fact, the WHO screen time guideline for infants less than 1 years old is: “screen time is not recommended”. Sorry Ms Rachel and Ms Moni.
“We know, however – both from our own data and from international estimates – that children on average are exceeding these guidelines,” she says.
“Based on the actual average daily screen time for children in this study at 36 months – 172 minutes, or just under 3 hours – they could in fact be missing out on up to 1139 adult words, 843 vocalisations and 194 conversational turns per day.
“What’s also interesting is that the study did not necessarily capture parental use of mobile phones in the presence of their children. The devices only picked up noise associated with screen time – for example TV shows, videos or games.
Yikes! Must be more mindful with how much I use my iPhone in the presence of Little Miss A.
“If anything, we have probably underestimated how much screen usage – and associated ‘technoference’ – is going on around children because we haven’t been able to capture parents’ silent screen-related activities, such as reading e-mails, texting, or quietly scrolling through websites or social media.”
But surely this all depends on what is being viewed?
Surely having Ms Rachel or the Aussie equivalent, Ms Moni, toddler learning videos on the screen isn’t a bad thing (for toddlers), especially given how interactive they are!
For example, I find having Ms Rachel or Ms Moni on in the background helpful in providing ideas on how to be interactive with Little Miss A, including the tone of voice to use when mirroring her babbles and all …
Dr Brushe seems to agree, saying that there are ways to reduce potential impacts of screen time on children.
“It might be that [parents] opt for interactive co-viewing as a way to reduce the burden of screen time, or make a point of engaging in conversation when a screen is on,” she says.
“This might include singing along with theme songs, repeating phrases or questions from the screen, and using the content of a show as a conversation starter after the screen has been turned off.
“Interventions designed to support parents can educate them on high quality educational screen content that is age appropriate for their child and can support language learning and interaction.”
There’s a lot to consider when raising a little sponge and, as parents, we have to be so mindful of what we expose our littlies to.
And while this is all true, new parent (new mum) guilt is real, and it can be really easy to get overwhelmed by all the do’s and don’ts of parenting.
So, the way I see it, like with everything, balance is the key — doing the best we can, while limiting the obvious ‘no-no’s’ when it comes to things like screen exposure and screen time.
I mean, many of us grew up with ABC’s Play School, and Sesame Street, and we turned out OK. Amirite!
I think there’s still a place of interactive YouTube channels like Ms Rachel and Ms Moni. They’ve certainly helped and provided me — as a new mum looking for ideas — with ways to be interactive with Little Miss A.
So, I don’t think, if used appropriately, they have to be entirely discounted.
x G.
editor, journalist, digital content creator with a background in nutrition & dietetics.
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