Young Child Learning, Attention, and Screen Use with Heather Kirkorian, PhD

11/27/24 • 33 min

When a young child watches TV or uses a digital tablet are they able to learn from what they see? What are the effects of media use on the development of attentional networks?
On this episode of Screen Deep, host Kris Perry talks to Dr. Heather Kirkorian about how digital media impacts learning, cognition, and attention in young children. Dr. Kirkorian describes the developmental milestones that allow for learning from digital media, explains the “video deficit effect” – the finding that young children have a hard time transferring things they learn on screens to the real world – and how interactive elements of digital devices may support or impede learning. Dr. Kirkorian also shares findings on how background television can disrupt parent-child interactions critical for early learning, as well as suggestions for parents in choosing high quality media for younger children.
In this episode you will learn:

How media use affects young children’s attention and learning.
How interactivity and engagement in digital media affects young children’s ability to learn.
What developmental milestones indicate that a child is ready to learn from digital media {and what supports they might need to enhance learning.}
Why young children are more likely to learn from real-life demonstrations than video.
How to choose high quality media content and use it to support young children’s learning.
How background TV exposure can affect young child attention.

Dr. Heather Kirkorian is the Laura M. Secord Chair in Early Childhood Development and a Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also has affiliate appointments in the Departments of Psychology and Educational Psychology at UW-Madison. Dr. Kirkorian is a developmental psychologist who studies cognitive development in infants and young children, particularly in the context of TV and digital media. She uses a combination of behavioral, observational, and psychophysiological methods to study the impact of child and parent media use on children (e.g., attention, memory, learning, play), parents (e.g., stress, burnout), and families (e.g., parent-child interactions).

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)
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Music: 'Life in Silico' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

How media use affects young children’s attention and learning.
How interactivity and engagement in digital media affects young children’s ability to learn.
What developmental milestones indicate that a child is ready to learn from digital media {and what supports they might need to enhance learning.}
Why young children are more likely to learn from real-life demonstrations than video.
How to choose high quality media content and use it to support young children’s learning.
How background TV exposure can affect young child attention.

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)
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Follow Children and Screens on:

Previous Episode

Introducing the Screen Deep Podcast

Introducing the Screen Deep podcast - where we go on deep dives with leading experts to decode child and adolescent brains and behavior in a digital world.

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)
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Next Episode

Adolescent Health, Body Image/Eating Disorders and Media Use with Jason Nagata, MD, MSc

How does adolescents’ use of digital media , particularly of image-based social media platforms, influence and amplify their body image concerns?
On this episode of Screen Deep, host Kris Perry engages in a compelling conversation with Dr. Jason Nagata, a distinguished researcher and a pediatrician, to explore the complex relationship between digital media use and adolescents’ physical and mental health. Dr. Nagata sheds light on the connection between digital media, body image issues, and eating disorders– particularly among boys, who are often overlooked in discussions on this topic. He delves into how boys’ body image challenges and eating disorders often present differently from those of girls. In addition, he shares research findings linking specific mental health symptoms to use of digital media, explores other health outcomes linked to digital media use, and discusses demographic and gender-based differences in media-usage patterns and their impacts on adolescent health outcomes.
In this episode you will learn:

What the ABCD study is and why it’s providing quality data for research into adolescent screen use and health.
What mental health symptoms in adolescents are most associated with high amounts of screen use.
Gender and other demographic differences in screen uses and their health impacts in adolescents.
What aspects of screen use are most impacting body image and eating disorder symptoms in youth.
How teen boys are experiencing body image pressure from media - and differences in how their body image disorder symptoms present.
What warning signs parents and caregivers can watch for that indicate an adolescent’s attention to exercise is becoming unhealthy.
The biggest predictor of high amounts of adolescent screen time (hint: parents).

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)
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Screen Deep - Young Child Learning, Attention, and Screen Use with Heather Kirkorian, PhD

Transcript

[Kris Perry]: Hello, and welcome to the Screen Deep podcast, where we go on deep dives with experts in the field to decode young brains and behavior in a digital world. I'm Kris Perry, Executive Director of Children and Screens and the host of Screen Deep. Digital technologies have been increasingly used for educational and learning purposes in recent years, from preschool age children on up. Yet, it's not always clear that use of digital media for these purposes is developme