disney defends baby einstein against u.w. researchers
Disney is not happy about a University of Washington study that found that time spent watching baby DVDs was associated with poorer language acquisition among children aged 8 to 16 months [sciencedirect]. Uncle Walt’s lawyers sent an angry letter to Mark Emmert, complete with bullet point rebuttals. Although they weren’t keen on the study results, the University’s press release is the main focus of their ire. From the letter (reprinted in the Post-Intelligencer) this line of reasoning, based on a non-significant finding from the article, is among the more entertaining points:
Applying the same misleading standards that the press release used, the study could be said to advise parents to be sure that infants watch television — for the study finds that not watching television is associated with reduced vocabulary– but to avoid having infants watch baby videos. That is to say, watching American Idol is better for infants than no television at all. Of course, such advice is absurd. [p-i]
More on this study, including the new Google feature [#] that allows people who are involved with news stories to comment on them, at Language Log [#]
That’s messed up. Anything to make a buck. I don’t know if it’s related to this, but I read not to long ago that infants acquire language way faster when someone is actually speaking to them. Something about the real lifeness and 3-D-ness.
Sometimes I miss having a TV, but I feel better about it when I see my little jerks heading for the bookshelf.
Disney DOES have a point. The press release reported OPINION not the facts and conclusions reached in the study, which you can read at – http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/161/5/473.
The study did not appear in the Journal of Pediatrics but the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine back in May 2007. And it didn’t conclude that watching TV (with or without the parents) affected baby’s language development. However, that’s the opinion (not backed by research) of Dr. Dimitri A. Christakis, who also believes watching TV causes ADD/ADHD.
This is more a case of lazy journalism and the press’s love of hysterical headlines that freak out parents more than anything.
(I posted about this at http://mamarant.blogs.com/a_mamas_rant/2007/08/the-real-scoop-.html if you’d like links to the interviews, studies, etc.)
I interviewed Christakis and Zimmerman last year about their earlier studies. They’ve done a lot more work than just surveys. All of it suggests that children under 2 shouldn’t be watching TV.
Are the Baby Einstein videos harmful? Probably not. But they aren’t helpful, either. The press doesn’t get science reporting, anyway.
You should pick up their book. It’s quite eye-opening.