Lecture 8: Media Use

Question 1

Learning objectives

Answer 1

Lecture overview:
1. Brief history of media research
2. Key theories and issues
3. Television research
4. Touchscreen research
5. Policy and media
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Learning outcomes:
- Explain key concepts in media research and be able to critique them.
- Explain differences between television and touchscreen devices and how this may influence children’s ability to learn from screens.
- Explain how the content and context of media use could have a positive impact on children’s cognitive outcomes.
- Understand the wide-ranging nature of media use and how it plays a role in other areas, like policy.

Question 2

Part 1: Brief History of Media Research

History

Answer 2

Children’s media use has consistently attracted a lot of attention.

“The theater becomes to them [youth] a ‘veritable house of dreams’ infinitely more real than the noisy streets and crowded factories” (Addams, 1909)

With each new medium comes fresh concerns about how it impacts on children.

• Majority of media research has focused on television use.
  First addressed concerns about violence ( no programmes directed at children), advertising and impacts on health. Evolved to examine cognition and how content and contexts can influence outcomes.
• Focus has started to shift towards touchscreens but the research is still relatively new.

Question 3

Part 1: Brief History of Media Research

What areas to researchers look at in children’s media use?

Answer 3

• Understanding/ using messages
• Preference and use
• Relationships with physical aspects of life
• Relationships with psychological aspects of life
• Learning from screens
• Context effects

Question 4

Part 1: Brief History of Media Research

Why is understanding media use important in developmental psychology?

Answer 4

Technology use has become increasingly prevalent in young children’s lives.
- 65% of 3-4 year olds had used a tablet computer and 92% had used a TV

We need to make sure we understand how to optimise use to improve the chances of it having a positive influence.

Important topic in areas like policy, health and education so practitioners in all these areas stand to benefit from research into children’s technology use.

Question 5

Part 2a: Key Theories

Key theories list (4)

Answer 5

1. Displacement Hypothesis
2. Goldilocks Hypothesis
3. Transfer Deficit
4. Stimulation Hypothesis

Question 6

Part 2a: Key Theories

1. Displacement hypothesis

Answer 6

Displacement hypothesis suggests media use takes time away from other developmentally beneficial activities - lack of engagement with these activities associated with worse outcomes

Displacement assumes negative monotonic relationship and that harm is directly proportional to amount of exposure

Issue –> only works if we assumed, should the kid not be watching TV would definitely be reading etc

Question 7

Part 2a: Key Theories

2. Goldilocks hypothesis

Answer 7

Where displacement assumes negative monotonic relationship and that harm is directly proportional to amount of exposure…

The Goldilocks hypothesis says moderate technology use is not necc. harmful e.g.

• Too much – may displace meaningful activities
• Too little – may miss out on important information/ skills
• Just right – balanced use

Issue –> based on correlational data

Question 8

Part 2a: Key Theories

3. Transfer deficit

Answer 8

Transfer deficit is the phenomenon where children learn less from 2D media than live interactions

Researchers use diff. paradigms to test transfer e.g. imitation or object retrieval

• kidswatch a demo through screen then are given 3D version of task
• failure to complete task is seen as transfer deficit

Possible expl. is a shift between perceptual and physical environment
- change in modality is highly cognitively demanding - kids not as well equipped to deal with this… age constraints on memory flexibility - older children might be better equipped to deal with demands

The ability to transfer information could be moderated by the type of media and the context of media use e.g. co-use with parent, specific cues within media.

Issue –> Much of the research relies transferring between 2D and 3D versions of the same task – we don’t know much about how children can transfer more general skills.

Question 9

Part 2a: Key Theories

4. Stimulation hypothesis

Answer 9

Relevant in terms of imaginative play and creativity

The stimulation hyp. suggests content e.g. characters or events, are incorporated into play or creative ideas –> increased quantity or quality

could be interpreted as blurring boundaries between digital and non-digital play

4-6yo who watched harry potter did better in creativity tests comp to those who watched a non-magical clip

Issue –> it might ot be so beneficial if the content is potentially negative e.g. fighting

Question 10

Part 2b: Issues

Key issues in media research

How do we measure media use?

Answer 10

How do we measure media use?

Researchon kids media use relies on self-report, where ppts asked to estimate use

Adv/

• quick and cheap
• can use online surveys, questionnaires and diaries

Disadv/

• relies on ppt estimates, susceptible to social desirability and inaccuracy
• no standardised measure, qs about media use vary e.g. ave use in a week, day or yesterday

Question 11

Part 2b: Issues

Key issues in media research

How could measurements be improved?

Answer 11

Alleviate self-report issues by using activity tracking software - especially applicable for touch screen usage

issues –> distinguishing between users, needs to be approved by parents etc

Question 12

Part 2b: Issues

Key issues in media research

What is ‘screen time’, and is the term useful?

Answer 12

Definition: time spent using electronic screen-based devices such as tvs, computers, smarphones or tablets

Term is easy to understand but too simplistic - activities that fall under the label are varied e.g. watching tv and learning to code are very different things

The term “screen time” is basically meaningless - to understand effects of tech, need to have nuanced view of what is a complex behaviour

Question 13

Part 3: TV Research

How the introduction of TV can affect creativity

Answer 13

Key questions:
Are there differences between communities who do not have TV compared to those who do?
Does the introduction of TV affect subsequent creativity?

Harrison and Williams 1986

Study:
- natural exp with 3 canadian communities
> Community 1 – TV not yet available
> Community 2 – TV available, one programme
> Community 3 – TV available, several programmes

Tested twice

• 9 to 10 and 12 to 13-year-olds at Time 1.
• 11 to 12 and 14 to 15 year-olds at Time 2.

Found:
> Cross-sectional results
- Divergent thinking (DT) was significantly higher in Community 1 compared to other two communities.
> Longitudinal results
- DT was lower after introduction of TV in Community 1 and had dropped to the same level as the other two communities.

Means:
- Authors suggest displacement, TV replaced beneficial activities for DT

Question 14

Part 3: TV Research

How educational content might help with language and school-related skills

Answer 14

Key question: How do different TV programmes relate to intellectual development in low-to-moderate SES children?

Wright et al 2001

Study:
- diaries of tv viewing for 3yrs and annual measures of reading, maths, vocab and school readiness in two groups (2-5 and 4-7)

Found:

• General tv content -> lower performance on school-related skills.
• Positive relationship, watching educational programmes (like Sesame Street)*letter-word skills, number skills, vocabulary and school readiness for pre-schoolers

Means:

• educational context beneficial for kids from low/ mod SES
• based on curriculum and formative research, has accessible presentation - it’s understandable and appealing to young kids

Question 15

Part 4: Touchscreen Research

Televisions vs. touchscreens – are they different?

Answer 15

There are a number of features that mean touchscreens are closer to real-world play than TVs

• Interactivity
• Reactivity
• Portability
• Tailorability
• Progressiveness
• Promotion of joint attention

Do these differences mean differences in develop and how kids learn from screens?

Key questions:
> Do 4- to 6-year olds improve at a problem-solving task (Tower of Hanoi) after practicing on a touchscreen?
> Does task modality affect performance?

Huber et al (2016)

Study:

• kids tried tower of hanoi irl
• then practiced either irl or on screen
• tried again irl

Found:
- Found that performance improved across all age groups regardless of practice modality

Means:

• Children can learn problem-solving strategies from screens
• Possible that the interactivity of touchscreen made it active learning

Question 16

Part 4: Touchscreen Research

How maternal scaffolding can help infants learn from screens

Answer 16

Key question: does interactional quality predict infants’ transfer success?

Zack & Barr (2016)

Study:

• 50 mothers and infants (15m) visited lab.
• Mum had 5mins to explain that button on touchscreen works the same as button on 3D object.
• They weren’t allowed to directly refer to or push button.

Found:

• Interactional quality predicted infant transfer success.
• The high-quality interaction dyads were 19x more likely to be able to successfully complete the task compared to moderate-quality dyads.

Means:

• It suggests that mothers can play an important scaffolding role in infant’s ability to transfer information - the better they explain the more the kids learn
• Context is critical for infants to learn from touchscreens – input from an engaged, responsive social partner is important to understanding functional relationships between 2D and 3D information sources

Question 17

Part 5a: Policy

What is policy?

What are some existing guidelines?

Answer 17

Policy: A set of ideas or plans of action agreed on by an organisation

Notable examples of policy on children’s use of technology:
> France - banned smartphones in schools
> Taiwan - updated a law that states children “may not constantly use electronic products for a period of time that is not reasonable”
> Canada and Australia – no screens for children under the age of 2 years.

UK - no concrete guidelines, govt suggested that some might be created

Question 18

Part 5a: Policy

American Academy of Pediatrics/ AAP

Answer 18

Highly cited, highly influential guidelines

***Issued in 1999, based on displacement, despite evidence lacking

• **2x2 rule, which was re-issued in 2011
• No screens < 2 years
• Maximum 2hrs > 2 years.

Inflexible and outdated in context of new technology?

• **2016 –> removal of 2x2 guidelines
• < 18 months = no screens (except for video chatting)
• 18 to 24 months = can introduce high-quality programming with co-viewing.
• 2 - 5 years = 1 hour of high-quality screen time per day.

***AAP recently released a policy document promoting play, but takes negative stance towards technology use in this context, even though there is suggestion that touchscreens could facilitate play

Issues –> policies lack up-to-date research and it could be argued that recommendations are conjecture (fancy bullshit)
- Little evidence to suggest guidelines are effective in facilitating higher wellbeing

Question 19

Part 5b: Media

A case study on how policy, media and research interact

Zimmerman et al

Answer 19

Zimmerman, Christakis & Meltzoff (2007)

Reported negative association between watching baby videos (Baby Einstein) and language development in 6-16 month olds –> prompted public reaction following a press release from the University of Washington that quoted one of the authors saying baby videos “may in fact be harmful”

Disney offered refunds to parents on grounds that it had been marketed as “educational” but wasn’t

Question 20

Part 5b: Media

Case study continued

Ferguson & Donnellan (2014)

Answer 20

Ferguson & Donnellan (2014) performed a re-analysis of the Zimmerman data, following previous failed attempts to replicate the findings

Found positive relationships between language development and watching baby videos, adult TV and child-directed TV and negative relationships where children weren’t exposed to media at all

YET, Zimmerman et al., (2007) was still included in the AAP 2016 guidelines in support of the recommendations.

Question 21

Part 5b: Media

Why does the relationship between policy, media and research matter?

Answer 21

Mainstream media is how a lot of the general public receive information about research.

Public feeling drives policy – policymakers can be lobbied into creating guidance to address concerns - doesn’t necessarily mean policies are evidence-based!

Scaremongering, guidelines need to be built on evidence, not hype

Question 22

Summary

Answer 22

• Children’s media use is a wide-ranging topic that has attracted attention outside of research.
• Although there is evidence in some instances that media use can potentially be detrimental to children’s outcomes, it might not be as bad as people think because it largely depends the content and the context.
• Touchscreens offer a potentially different experience to televisions because of their inherent interactivity.
• Interactivity could help improve children’s learning from screens so maybe touchscreens could be a potentially useful learning tool.
• The relationship between research, policy and media is fraught and produces heated debates – the debates are important, but so is good-quality research.