Do Online Videos Count?

We were interested in this essay over at Babble that asks this question. Even if you are strongly against your child watching television before age 2, what about the Internet? It starts out innocently enough- just a YouTube video to stop her from crying for one moment, and then before you know it...

...she's two and asking to watch a whole bunch of different things on the computer.

Author Dan Oko decides in the end that watching a few things on the Internet here and there isn't quite the same thing:
"To my mind, YouTube can help Ursula get a leg up on a whole host of cultural info-tainment from wildlife videos to cartoon mash-ups, and she can do so without being exposed to television's least desirable aspects — commercials."

What do you think? Do you place television and online viewing in the same category? Or is there a difference?

You can find Oko's complete essay over at Babble.

Originally posted by Julia Cho/Ohdeedoh

Comments (2)

I agree that it is a very slippery slope, allowing children to view online videos in place of television. AS with most things, it really comes down to parental involvement, and supervision. While commercials are undesirable, there are much worse things avaliable on the internet for them to come across. With proper restrictions, and limitations to videos with educational value, I would agree that online videos are the way to go.

posted by ominoustoad on June 29th 2009 at 9:40am
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I highly recommend watching this:
Mediatrics: What Pediatricians Should Know About Infant Media Usage and Childrens Cognitive Development

http://www.seattlechildrens.org/health_care_professionals/education/grand_rounds_online/2008/10/003887.asp

posted by threesquare on June 29th 2009 at 5:32pm
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