In this article, we examine the impact of digital screen devices, including television, on cognitive development. Although we know that young infants and toddlers are using touch screen devices, we know little about their comprehension of the content that they encounter on them. In contrast, research suggests that children begin to comprehend child-directed television starting at ∼2 years of age. The cognitive impact of these media depends on the age of the child, the kind of programming (educational programming versus programming produced for adults), the social context of viewing, as well the particular kind of interactive media (eg, computer games). For children <2 years old, television viewing has mostly negative associations, especially for language and executive function. For preschool-aged children, television viewing has been found to have both positive and negative outcomes, and a large body of research suggests that educational television has a positive impact on cognitive development. Beyond the preschool years, children mostly consume entertainment programming, and cognitive outcomes are not well explored in research. The use of computer games as well as educational computer programs can lead to gains in academically relevant content and other cognitive skills. This article concludes by identifying topics and goals for future research and provides recommendations based on current research-based knowledge.
Here, we focus on what is known about the developmental impact of digital screen devices, including television, on cognitive development. Because television has been available for a much longer time than digital screen devices, much more is known about its cognitive impact. The experience of watching television, moreover, is broadly similar across presentation platforms (eg, traditional television sets, computers, and mobile devices). As long as a device remains switched on, audiovisual content unfolds in time regardless of whether the viewer is attentive or even present. Television content can generally be characterized as narrative, expository, or hortatory (as in commercials), and it typically consists of edited audiovisual montage (ie, emerges over time over successions of shots that frequently require inferential cognition to comprehend in sequence).
Interactive digital media, on the other hand, generally require some kind of behavioral actions from users, and thus the sequential flow of content is influenced by user behavior. Depending on the hardware and/or device, formal features (such as screen icons), and user interface, a wide range of user behaviors may influence the flow of content, ranging from the computer mouse to touch screen, to user movement through space, to voice input. Moreover, the range of content available to children on digital, interactive devices is much larger than that on television. Increasingly, television or televisionlike video content is viewed through streaming services on interactive devices. The rapid, secular change in interactive digital screen technology combined with the much broader range of content makes generalizations from research on interactive devices much more problematic than generalizations based on research concerning television (whether it be broadcast, streamed, or on DVD). At this point in history, working conclusions based on television research should be considered more reliable than those based on research of interactive digital media.
During the preschool and elementary school years, television is the dominant screen medium and is used approximately twice as much as interactive screen media.2 Anecdotally, and by parental report, infants and toddlers use interactive touch screen media.2 However, there have been no direct observational studies on the developmental time course of interactive media use or comprehension during early childhood.
The evidence is mixed about the impact of child-directed television content on infants and toddlers, with some studies finding no relationship to cognitive development, and others finding a negative impact, depending on child age and whether the programming is intended to be educational.7 Whereas parents speak less to their infants during coviewing of infant-directed television programs (compared with no television), they tend to use richer vocabularies both during and immediately after viewing.12 Although there have been no comparable studies on the impact of interactive screen media during infancy, there is some evidence that toddlers (24 to 36 month olds) can more readily learn from touch screen devices than they can from television.13 Parental use of mobile devices, however, has been shown to considerably reduce parental interactions with young children.14 Thus, it appears that parental engagement with both television and interactive media, such as smartphones, may reduce the quantity and quality of parent-child interactions, which are crucial for the development of cognitive skills, especially language and executive function.
By ∼2.5 years of age, children are able to comprehend and learn from age-appropriate, child-directed television programs, although comprehension of more complex television programming continues to increase at least up to ∼12 years of age.15 Once comprehension is established, television begins to influence child knowledge and, therefore, cognitive development more generally. This influence can be both positive and negative. On the positive side, numerous evaluations of preschool educational television programs such as "Sesame Street" have found a positive impact on vocabulary, literacy, social behavior, and academic knowledge.16 Educational television viewing is associated with greater school readiness and increased academic performance that is traceable through high school.17,18 There is little question from a large amount of research that educational television has a positive impact on cognitive development.
Cognitive gains have been found in experimental studies of game playing when skills were assessed immediately after the completion of training as well as when they were assessed after a lapse of time.29 Although based on correlational data, the superior attentional, processing, and representational skills of video-game players29 indicate that there may be longer-lasting cognitive implications from playing interactive games. A drawback is that some of the research has been done with older children and young adults. It is largely unknown if these cognitive effects can be extended to children and, if so, whether age may moderate the effects.
When children become capable of comprehending the media they experience, it is likely that the greatest impact on cognitive development is via content. Although some television studies have demonstrated the value of a television diet that is rich in educational content, there has been a lack of research on the differential effects of content with regards to interactive digital media. As a simple example of the type of research that is needed, a recent small-scale experiment provided 1 group of 18 4-year-old children from low-income families with a touch screen mobile device (an iPod Touch) loaded with age-appropriate educational game software that focused on math and literacy skills. A comparison group of 11 children received the devices with age-appropriate entertainment software. Cognitive assessments after 3 months revealed a literacy skill gain of 11 standard score points on the Test of Emergent Preschool Literacy for the educational software group and of only 4 points for the entertainment software group. For math skills, the respective gains were 8 vs 1 on the Test of Early Math Ability.30 If this study can be replicated at a much larger scale, the results point to the potential of a media touch screen diet that is rich in educational software as a relatively inexpensive mode of early intervention for school readiness.
Television use during the years in which children are learning to read has a negative impact on reading achievement, likely because of the displacement of reading for pleasure by entertainment television viewing. It is not known whether this finding extends to educational television use or whether it extends to the use of interactive media, educational or otherwise. This may partly depend on how much a child is engaged in reading while using interactive software. Television rarely requires young viewers to read; software programs sometimes do.
Clinicians and providers should talk to parents about providing their children with media diets that are rich in educational content while discouraging heavy screen media use, especially when children are beginning to learn to read. In this regard, parents should read to their children and encourage reading by their children.
Policy makers should encourage and support research on developing content for new digital media.
Early childhood educators should be encouraged to interact with toddlers and touch screen devices (including e-books) in much the same way they are encouraged to use and interact with children while reading traditional books.
We thank Rachel Barr and Heather Kirkorian for their insightful comments on an early outline of this article.