With 61% Of All US Babies Under The Age Of One Watching Television No Wonder a 24-Hour Baby Channel Has Launched. As They Say, It Could Only Happen In America

Philip M. Stone May 25, 2006

An amazing study released this week says that 61% of US babies less than one-year-old watch TV every day for at least an hour, even though the American Academy of Pediatrics says children under the age of two should not be watching TV at all.

And bringing a new definition to the word “entrepreneurship” a 24-hour satellite TV channel aimed at babies –BabyFirstTV -- launched two weeks ago at $9.99 a month (presumably the parents pick up the tab, not baby!)

And firmly putting the pediatricians in their place is Dr. Edward McCabe, himself a pediatrician who is physician-in-chief at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Mattel Children’s Hospital and who sits on BabyFirstTV’s advisory board.

He told the Associated Press, “I was skeptical when I first heard about it. But I became convinced this is a major evolution in media for kids.” Programming is designed for viewers aged six months to three-years-old.

And lest you think there’s no audience for that kind of programming the respected Kaiser Family Foundation has come out with new figures since its last survey three years ago that proves how crucial television is to American families in keeping their kids occupied (quiet) and out of trouble.

For instance:

• 61% of babies watch television on a typical day for 1:20 with usage increasing by age so that with the 4-6 year-olds 90% are watching for at least two hours a day.
• 19% of babies under one year of age have a television in the bedroom, as do 43% of those aged between 4-6.
• About one-third of American children up to the age of six live in homes where television is on all or most of the time. That’s actually down a bit from three years ago. A mother in one of the focus groups used for the survey explained, “The TV is on all the time. We have five TVs. At least three of those are usually on – her bedroom, the living room and my bedroom.”
• Only 26% of parents with children younger than 2-years-old have abided the professional advice that children under two should not watch television.
• Two-thirds of parents believe television has a positive influence on their children and that they imitate positive behaviors they have seen on television, but 23% admit that children do imitate aggressive behavior such as hitting or kicking, particularly with some 45% of boys aged 4-6 showing those aggressive tendencies.

“Parents have a tough job, and they rely on TV in particular to help make their life more manageable,” according to Vicky Rideout, director of Kaiser’s Program for the Study of Entertainment Media and Health.

She said the report, The Media Family: Electronic Media in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers, Preschoolers, and Their Parents” shows, “parents use media to help them keep their kids occupied, calm them down, avoid family squabbles, and teach their kids things parents are afraid they don’t have time to teach themselves.”

Perhaps the most fascinating comments came from the parents in focus groups who explained why they expose their children to so much television. The one that probably summed up a lot of homes came from a mother of two:

“As much as I would like it to be otherwise, I have to keep the house functioning. The laundry has got to get done. They have to eat. I do have to cook. As much as I would love to believe that I can go into the bathroom and shut the door and leave my two children reading a book or even playing together, that’s not going to happen.”

The food industry, including the fast food industry, has been undergoing scrutiny in many countries for targeting the young in their television advertisements, and the survey indicated those advertisers knew exactly what they were doing. Advertising to the very young really does work.

“They (commercials) really work on my son (aged less than 6) already. He’ll see something in a Burger King commercial. He’ll tell me that we have to go to Burger King today. It doesn’t matter what we’re doing, we have to go,” said one parent.

Another said, “My daughter (under three years old) would eat a cheeseburger from McDonalds every day if I would let her. She sees it on TV, and she will come to me right away saying that’s what she wants for lunch.”

BabyFirstTV is commercial free and its management says its programming is appropriate to its audience.

The Academy of Pediatrics takes the view it is more important for children to interact with one another rather than to be watching television in their first two formative years, and says a TV does not belong in a child’s bedroom. “Playing, reading and spending time with friends and family are much healthier than sitting in front of a TV screen,” the Academy advises.

What the Academy apparently hasn’t figured out is that for the well-being of parents who are trying to cope in today’s stressful world, television at least keeps the kids (and babies) busy and quiet. And there are some households where you cannot even begin to put a price on that!