How harmful is media consumption for young children?
Rumble! The five-year-old is at home. Full of vigour, he first throws the door into the lock, then the kindergarten bag and the light strip onto the bench. A quick «Hi Mum!», then comes the hammer sentence: «Mum, are you playing Minecraft?» My jaw drops.
«What makes you think that?» I ask. «From Moritz, he's allowed to do that EVERY day,» he crows. Welcome home, I sigh inwardly, feeling a little perplexed. I think: «Now please don't you start that too, your older brothers are enough for me.»
Parents are role models - no question
In the evening, I do what many parents do when they don't know something: they ask Google. Online, I come across the Mike study by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). According to the study, around a quarter of six to nine-year-olds have their own mobile phone. Children aged four to seven are also fascinated by smartphones, as the ZHAW Adele study shows. «Many mums and dads use digital media to keep their children occupied while they do chores,» explains project manager Gregor Waller. Parents appreciate the initially calming effect of digital media and deliberately use it when children are restless. At the same time, however, they are afraid of the high addictive potential of digital media.
Parents want to do everything right. As a result, media educators and experts are in demand to give us tips on whether, when, for how long and for what purposes children are allowed to use media. Courses and brochures on the subject are springing up like mushrooms, and the number of advice and rules is growing in line with the possibilities offered by new media: Anyone searching the Internet, for example via the website of the national media literacy programme «Youth and Media», will find numerous offers of advice in Switzerland. But variety is not exactly what parents are looking for at times like this. They want clarity.
Media educators are booming
Rule 3/6/9/12 provides guidance. This guideline was drawn up by experts from the «Youth and Media» information portal. It means: no screens before the age of 3, no games consoles before the age of 6, no internet before the age of 9 and no unsupervised internet before the age of 12. Other experts, such as the German media advice website schau-hin.info, recommend the same: Younger children up to the age of 5 should not spend more than half an hour a day in front of a screen, older children up to the age of 9 should not spend more than an hour a day.
Guiding media consumption in the right direction: When does media education begin?
However, anyone who thinks they can avoid the topic of new media until at least primary school level is mistaken. According to Bo Reichlin, the initiator of mediolino.ch, a programme that promotes media education in nurseries, kindergartens and families, media education cannot start early enough - precisely because a trusting relationship is also so important when it comes to media issues. «It actually starts at birth.»
Children observe what their parents do with media.
It initially takes place indirectly - by children observing what their parents do with media. In addition to the role model role, the important role as a companion comes later, even if children watch apparently harmless things like «Maya the Bee». «To understand media messages, children need to understand more complex narrative structures. They have to read body language and facial expressions and distinguish reality from fiction,» says Reichlin. On average, children only learn the latter between the ages of 5 and 7. «I can only recommend that parents exercise moderation, explain content if necessary and keep checking the child's level of development.»
Media consumption: Parents have a role model role
It is undisputed that parents also have a role model when it comes to smartphones and the like. In its 2015 report «Mobile Internet use by children and young people», the renowned Hans Bredow Institute found that the type of smartphone use by younger children depends on «previous experience and parental guidance».
«I think it's wrong to demonise a medium just because it can have negative consequences.»
Lutz Jäncke, neuropsychologist
One of the most vehement critics of early childhood media use is the German neurobiologist Gerald Hüther. «If children spend too much time on the computer, it not only changes their perception, their sense of space and time and their emotional world. Everything they experience in computer games also changes their brain.»
Does computer use damage young children's brains?
Hüther demands nothing less than that children be kept away from digital media. A demand that experts such as neuropsychologist Lutz Jäncke from the University of Zurich dismiss. «I think it's wrong to demonise a medium just because it can have negative consequences.»
Different areas of the brain are activated when using a computer than when playing or learning.
It is still controversial whether intensive computer use in childhood leads to irreversible damage to the brain. Long-term studies are lacking. The fact is that different areas of the brain are activated when using a computer than when playing or learning. However, Lutz Jäncke is certain that our brain reacts to the new challenges. «I am convinced that the brain will not be thrown off course by the new media.»
And my Minecraft toddler? He forgot all about the fascinating world of colourful games after his lunch. The garden and the nearby forest were too tempting. May his fascination with free play hopefully continue for a long time to come.
10 tips for parents on how to use digital media correctly
- Children under the age of 3 need direct attention, active play and conversation - not TV.
- Children between the ages of 3 and 5 can watch TV for up to 30 minutes a day with parental supervision. However, their ability to concentrate is limited. Children perceive the TV world as «real». They do not recognise what is real and what is staged.
- 30 minutes of attention is a guideline. You are the best judge of how much your child can tolerate.
- Observe your child's media experiences and respond to their signals.
- Age-appropriate videos are more suitable for children under the age of 4 than TV, as DVDs can be stopped and watched again.
- Children like to imitate their TV heroes and test the boundaries of their own world again and again. Take your children's heroes seriously. Children can grow on and with their heroes. Ask your child what they like about their heroes. Talk to them about real-life heroes from their environment.
- Exercise and free play help your child to process their impressions better.
- Your child should avoid watching films and TV before going to bed.
- Watching television together can become a ritual. Agree fixed TV times and content with your child and establish rules together. This will help your child to assign a specific place to television and to consciously consume a programme. In addition, shared rituals and appointments strengthen the sense of togetherness in the family and promote your child's social behaviour.
- Children are also strongly orientated towards their parents when it comes to media use. Therefore, pay attention to your media consumption and try to be a role model for your child. The digital world cannot replace playing in the garden and on the playground, meeting up with friends or reading (aloud) together.
Source: Youth and media
