A new study by pediatric researchers at the University of Washington discovered that 90 percent of children by the age of 2 have been watching television for an average of 90 minutes a day. The study also found that 40 percent of 3-month-olds watch television for an average of 45 minutes a day, or over five hours a week.
According to the researchers, that amount of exposure at such an early age is detrimental to the brain development of children which increases the risk of problems related to attention span, reading comprehension and obesity.
The reason parents give for doing it was mostly as an educational tool. Pediatricians have said that the issue isn't the content of programs at this age, which the parents think make a difference, but how it impacts the long-term growth of the child from viewing in and of itself.
Many parents think because their child sits and watches the screen that their children are building attention and learning, on the contrary scientists say that it's 
a "primitive reflex known as the orienting response."
"Yes, the baby is staring at the screen, but it’s wrong to think the child likes it," said Dimitri Christakas, the study’s co-author and himself the father of two young children. "He or she has no choice in the matter. He’s hard-wired to pay attention to anything that is fast-moving, brightly colored, or loud. It’s a survival response."
It seems that because videos with educational-sounding names like "Baby Einstein" sound official and positive, parents put their children in front of them thinking they're doing the children a service.
Researchers and educators say that while these parents have good intentions, children do need to be weaned away from the baby video and TV watching market.
The major reasons given for letting babies watch television were to "'teach something' or are 'good for his/her brain’ (29 percent), and because it’s 'something he/she really enjoys doing' (23 percent). Needing to keep a baby occupied scored in third place (20 percent)."
Comment Preview