One evening my 2 year old toddler was requesting 'More Peppa Pig', I'd reluctantly allowed her a 30 minute slot to watch her favourite programme, the episode had finished and she pointed to our Samsung Smart TV repeating 'More Peppa Pig' then a little louder 'More Peppa Pig'. She then grabbed the control and pressed the Sky remote attempting to forward the adverts to get to the next episode.
All too aware of Why to avoid TV before 2 research which suggests screen viewing has negative effects on children's language development, reading skills, short-term memory as well as sleep and attention, I wanted to understand the media consumption of other children. There is a survey telling us that 40% of infants watch some sort of video by the age of 5 months and this rises to 90% by the age of 2.
What do other data sources say? OFCOM conducted a study which they started in 2005 analysing Children and Parents Media Consumption and Attitudes. Over a 10 year period we are able to understand how media consumption habits have changed. Here are some highlights from the latest 2015 report -
So back to the challenge of TV time, a separate article by Babycenter provides the best way to tackle TV time. The idea is to think of it as refined sugar, the advice is to limit the time your toddler spends watching TV, make screens physically inconvenient, go with calm and quiet programs, watch programming and not television and watch with your child whenever possible.
The research is in and the statistics are eye-opening, I prefer the refined sugar approach and who knows what platforms and media my toddler will be consuming by the time she is a 12 year old, gone will be the days of Snapchat and Facebook?!?
All too aware of Why to avoid TV before 2 research which suggests screen viewing has negative effects on children's language development, reading skills, short-term memory as well as sleep and attention, I wanted to understand the media consumption of other children. There is a survey telling us that 40% of infants watch some sort of video by the age of 5 months and this rises to 90% by the age of 2.
What do other data sources say? OFCOM conducted a study which they started in 2005 analysing Children and Parents Media Consumption and Attitudes. Over a 10 year period we are able to understand how media consumption habits have changed. Here are some highlights from the latest 2015 report -
The amount of time 8-11s and 12-15s spend online has more than doubled, from 4.4 hours a week in 2005 to 11.1 hours in 2015.
In 2005, 61% of 8-11s and 67% of 12-15s had access to the internet at home. In 2015 close to nine in in ten 8-11s (91%) and nearly all 12-15s (96%) have internet access at home, either through a fixed broadband connection or through using a mobile network signal.
In 2005 3% of 8-11s and 13% of 12-15s had internet access in their bedroom. In 2015 this has increased to 15% of 8-11s and 34% of 12-15s who have internet access via a desktop, laptop or netbook in their bedroom, and many also use portable devices, like tablets and mobiles, to go online. One in ten 5-15s now only go online
According to OFCOM tablets are proving popular with toddlers, over half of 3-4s and three-quarters of 12-15s use a tablet in 2015.
And since 2005 the mobile phone has overtaken the TV set as the device 12-15s would miss the most.
In 2015 traditional TV is being challenged by other types of audio-visual content. Among 12- 15s who watch both TV and YouTube content, for the first time more say they prefer to watch YouTube videos (29% vs. 25% in 2014) than TV programmes (25% vs. 30% in 2014).
Fewer 12-15s in 2015 nominate Facebook as their main social media profile while more are nominating Snapchat.
So back to the challenge of TV time, a separate article by Babycenter provides the best way to tackle TV time. The idea is to think of it as refined sugar, the advice is to limit the time your toddler spends watching TV, make screens physically inconvenient, go with calm and quiet programs, watch programming and not television and watch with your child whenever possible.
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