What does this have to do with reading and childrens books? While the CSTA Web site provides information on a number of negative effects of two much screen-time, I want to emphasize several negative effects that pertain to reading and childrens books.
- When parents are continually busy with electronic media, they have less time to read children's books to their children. Yet, according to "Becoming a Nation of Readers," a national report by the Commission on Reading, "The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success is reading aloud to children."
- When children spend too much time with electronic media, they lack the time to do the recreational reading important to their success in developing needed reading skills.
- "Even the very youngest children in America are growing up immersed in media, spending hours a day watching TV and videos, using computers and playing video games, according to a new study released today by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Children six and under spend an average of two hours a day using screen media (1:58), about the same amount of time they spend playing outside (2:01), and well over the amount they spend reading or being read to (39 minutes).
(10/28/03 media release)

