Switched on too early?

Introduction

Nursery practitioners and parents are increasingly pressured to prepare our children for the digital world they will inhabit. It is implied that if children don’t become familiar with technology while they’re young, that they will in some way lose out later on. This is not true – even Rhesus monkeys can learn how to use new technology. The other rationale is that because children enjoy technology and are interested in it, therefore it must be good for them to have it. Just because children are interested in something does not mean, by any stretch of the imagination, that it is in their best interests to expose them to it until we feel it is age-appropriate. Children might be interested in busy roads, deep water, alcohol or even hand-guns – it doesn’t mean we should give them access to these things.

Medical research

There are now sound medical reasons for delaying the introduction of technology to our children. In August 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued guidelines recommending that children under the age of two should watch no screen entertainment at all, because television ‘can negatively affect early brain development’. The Australian Government is now considering a similar national policy guideline. And it is highly significant that France’s government has recently banned French channels from airing all TV shows – ‘educational’ and otherwise – aimed at children under three years of age. It has declared, ‘Television viewing hurts the development of children under three years old and poses a certain number of risks, encouraging passivity, slow language acquisition, over-excitedness, troubles with sleep and concentration as well as dependence on screens… even when it involves channels aimed specifically at them.’