Abstract

Keywords: television, executive function, children, mediators, moderators

Children’s television shows have become popular education and entertainment tools for impressionable children, bringing to question their effects on executive function (EF) development, which is important for life outcomes. Past studies have produced mixed results on whether television has positive, negative, or no effect on children’s executive function. In recent studies, researchers have proposed that the relationship between television exposure and children’s executive function is complex and depends on the content watched and the context in which television is watched, rather than simply the amount of television viewing time. With television becoming a home staple and evolving into more interactive, nontraditional forms due to the rising popularity of streaming services and interactive devices, it is important to explore how television’s deleterious effects on children’s executive function can be mitigated and how television’s beneficial effects can be maximized. This review presents past literature addressing television’s effects on executive function development and identifies the specific aspects of television viewing that may act as mediators and moderators. In particular, child-directed, live, slower-paced, and educational television programming that contains greater prosocial behaviors and interactivity and less violence and fantasy may be more likely to promote, or at the very least produce the least harm to, children’s EF. Furthermore, keeping television exposure in the foreground and using parental mediation behaviors like coviewing and instruction are also encouraged for EF development. Using this information, parents may be better informed in deciding how their child should be exposed to television.

Conclusions

Optimal Television Viewing for EF Development

Based on past studies, parents concerned about their children’s television and digital media consumption may want to consider not only the amount of time their children spend in front of a screen, but also the type of content they are consuming and in what context they might be consuming such content in.

While contextual factors like cumulative risk and age cannot be controlled, parents can encourage EF development in their children by limiting background exposure, especially while their child is working on other tasks. Moreover, rather than using television as a means to distract and keep their child occupied, parents may promote their child’s EF development by participating in coviewing or instructive mediation, allowing their child to better process the events, information, and lessons conveyed on screen.

In regards to content, children’s EF may benefit from prosocial programming conveying prosocial morals or that are highly dense in prosocial behaviors. Interactive television content is fairly novel since it was first pioneered by Netflix in 2017; however, shows that have greater interactive components like trivia questions and exercises addressed directly to the viewer to interact with may simulate and produce similar EF benefits. Harm to EF development may also be minimized by reducing or limiting the amount of violence, fantasy, and fast-paced content a child is exposed to in television and digital media. Opting for child-directed television programming over adult-directed programming, live content over animated content, and educational television over other genres like entertainment and horror may also benefit EF development, or minimize impairment at the very least.

Future research is needed to explore the interactions between these identified mediators and moderators, as it has been difficult to separate the effects of certain factors, like the presence of fantasy and fast-pacing, in past studies. Television’s growing prevalence has made it almost inevitable that children will be exposed to television and digital media throughout their lives. For younger children whose developing brains and prefrontal cortex are rapidly developing and extremely sensitive to their surrounding environment, television viewing can have serious implications for EF development if not utilized in an optimal, healthier manner.

View Full Literature Review:

Identifying Key Mediating and Moderating Factors Influencing Television’s Effect on Executive Function Development in Children

Grace Mak

The College of William and Mary