TED2017
Sara DeWitt: 3 fears about screen time for kids -- and why they're not true
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We check our phones upwards of 50 times per day -- but when our kids play around with them, we get nervous. Are screens ruining childhood? Not according to children's media expert Sara DeWitt. In a talk that may make you feel a bit less guilty about handing a tablet to a child while you make dinner, DeWitt envisions a future where we're excited to see kids interacting with screens and shows us exciting ways new technologies can actually help them grow, connect and learn.
Sara DeWitt - Children’s media expert
Inspired by Mister Rogers, Sara DeWitt strives to make every child feel special by charting the forefront of new digital mediums where kids spend their time. Full bio
Inspired by Mister Rogers, Sara DeWitt strives to make every child feel special by charting the forefront of new digital mediums where kids spend their time. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:13
I want us to start
by thinking about this device,
by thinking about this device,
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the phone that's very likely
in your pockets right now.
in your pockets right now.
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Over 40 percent of Americans
check their phones
check their phones
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within five minutes
of waking up every morning.
of waking up every morning.
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And then they look at it
another 50 times during the day.
another 50 times during the day.
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Grownups consider this device
to be a necessity.
to be a necessity.
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But now I want you to imagine it
in the hands of a three-year-old,
in the hands of a three-year-old,
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and as a society, we get anxious.
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Parents are very worried
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that this device is going to stunt
their children's social growth;
their children's social growth;
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that it's going to keep them
from getting up and moving;
from getting up and moving;
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that somehow,
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this is going to disrupt childhood.
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So, I want to challenge this attitude.
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I can envision a future
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where we would be excited to see
a preschooler interacting with a screen.
a preschooler interacting with a screen.
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These screens can get kids
up and moving even more.
up and moving even more.
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They have the power to tell us more
about what a child is learning
about what a child is learning
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than a standardized test can.
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And here's the really crazy thought:
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I believe that these screens
have the power
have the power
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to prompt more real-life conversations
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between kids and their parents.
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Now, I was perhaps
an unlikely champion for this cause.
an unlikely champion for this cause.
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I studied children's literature
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because I was going to work
with kids and books.
with kids and books.
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But about 20 years ago,
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I had an experience that shifted my focus.
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I was helping lead a research study
about preschoolers and websites.
about preschoolers and websites.
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And I walked in and was assigned
a three-year-old named Maria.
a three-year-old named Maria.
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Maria had actually never seen
a computer before.
a computer before.
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So the first thing I had to do
was teach her how to use the mouse,
was teach her how to use the mouse,
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and when I opened up the screen,
she moved it across the screen,
she moved it across the screen,
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and she stopped on a character
named X the Owl.
named X the Owl.
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And when she did that,
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the owl lifted his wing and waved at her.
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Maria dropped the mouse,
pushed back from the table, leaped up
pushed back from the table, leaped up
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and started waving
frantically back at him.
frantically back at him.
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Her connection to that character
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was visceral.
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This wasn't a passive screen experience.
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This was a human experience.
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And it was exactly appropriate
for a three-year-old.
for a three-year-old.
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I've now worked at PBS Kids
for more than 15 years,
for more than 15 years,
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and my work there is focused on
harnessing the power of technology
harnessing the power of technology
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as a positive in children's lives.
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I believe that as a society,
we're missing a big opportunity.
we're missing a big opportunity.
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We're letting our fear and our skepticism
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about these devices
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hold us back from realizing
their potential
their potential
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in our children's lives.
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Fear about kids and technology
is nothing new;
is nothing new;
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we've been here before.
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Over 50 years ago, the debate was raging
about the newly dominant media:
about the newly dominant media:
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the television.
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That box in the living room?
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It might be separating kids
from one another.
from one another.
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It might keep them away
from the outside world.
from the outside world.
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But this is the moment when Fred Rogers,
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the long-running host
of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood,"
of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood,"
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challenged society
to look at television as a tool,
to look at television as a tool,
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a tool that could promote
emotional growth.
emotional growth.
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Here's what he did:
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he looked out from the screen,
and he held a conversation,
and he held a conversation,
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as if he were speaking
to each child individually
to each child individually
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about feelings.
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And then he would pause
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and let them think about them.
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You can see his influence
across the media landscape today,
across the media landscape today,
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but at the time, this was revolutionary.
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He shifted the way we looked at television
in the eyes of children.
in the eyes of children.
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Today it's not just one box.
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Kids are surrounded by devices.
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And I'm also a parent -- I understand
this feeling of anxiety.
this feeling of anxiety.
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But I want us to look
at three common fears
at three common fears
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that parents have,
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and see if we can shift our focus
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to the opportunity that's in each of them.
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So.
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Fear number one:
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"Screens are passive.
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This is going to keep our kids
from getting up and moving."
from getting up and moving."
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Chris Kratt and Martin Kratt
are zoologist brothers
are zoologist brothers
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who host a show about animals
called "Wild Kratts."
called "Wild Kratts."
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And they approached the PBS team to say,
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"Can we do something with those cameras
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that are built into every device now?
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Could those cameras capture
a very natural kid play pattern --
a very natural kid play pattern --
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pretending to be animals?"
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So we started with bats.
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And when kids came in to play this game,
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they loved seeing themselves
on-screen with wings.
on-screen with wings.
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But my favorite part of this,
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when the game was over
and we turned off the screens?
and we turned off the screens?
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The kids kept being bats.
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They kept flying around the room,
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they kept veering left and right
to catch mosquitoes.
to catch mosquitoes.
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And they remembered things.
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They remembered that bats fly at night.
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And they remembered that when bats sleep,
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they hang upside down
and fold their wings in.
and fold their wings in.
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This game definitely got kids
up and moving.
up and moving.
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But also, now when kids go outside,
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do they look at a bird and think,
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"How does a bird fly
differently than I flew
differently than I flew
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when I was a bat?"
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The digital technology prompted
embodied learning
embodied learning
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that kids can now take out into the world.
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Fear number two:
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"Playing games on these screens
is just a waste of time.
is just a waste of time.
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It's going to distract children
from their education."
from their education."
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Game developers know
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that you can learn a lot
about a player's skill
about a player's skill
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by looking at the back-end data:
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Where did a player pause?
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Where did they make a few mistakes
before they found the right answer?
before they found the right answer?
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My team wanted to take that tool set
and apply it to academic learning.
and apply it to academic learning.
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Our producer in Boston, WGBH,
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created a series of Curious George games
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focused on math.
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And researchers came in and had
80 preschoolers play these games.
80 preschoolers play these games.
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They then gave all 80
of those preschoolers
of those preschoolers
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a standardized math test.
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We could see early on
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that these games
were actually helping kids
were actually helping kids
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understand some key skills.
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But our partners at UCLA
wanted us to dig deeper.
wanted us to dig deeper.
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They focus on data analysis
and student assessment.
and student assessment.
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And they wanted to take
that back-end game-play data
that back-end game-play data
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and see if they could use it
to predict a child's math scores.
to predict a child's math scores.
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So they made a neural net --
they essentially trained the computer
they essentially trained the computer
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to use this data,
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and here are the results.
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This is a subset of the children's
standardized math scores.
standardized math scores.
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And this
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is the computer's prediction
of each child's score,
of each child's score,
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based on playing
some Curious George games.
some Curious George games.
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The prediction is astonishingly accurate,
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especially considering the fact
that these games weren't built
that these games weren't built
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for assessment.
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The team that did this study
believes that games like these
believes that games like these
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can teach us more
about a child's cognitive learning
about a child's cognitive learning
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than a standardized test can.
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What if games could reduce
testing time in the classroom?
testing time in the classroom?
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What if they could reduce testing anxiety?
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How could they give teachers
snapshots of insight
snapshots of insight
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to help them better focus
their individualized learning?
their individualized learning?
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So the third fear I want to address
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is the one that I think
is often the biggest.
is often the biggest.
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And that's this:
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"These screens are isolating me
from my child."
from my child."
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Let's play out a scenario.
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Let's say that you are a parent,
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and you need 25 minutes
of uninterrupted time
of uninterrupted time
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to get dinner ready.
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And in order to do that,
you hand a tablet to your three-year-old.
you hand a tablet to your three-year-old.
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Now, this is a moment
where you probably feel very guilty
where you probably feel very guilty
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about what you just did.
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But now imagine this:
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Twenty minutes later,
you receive a text message.
you receive a text message.
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on that cell phone
that's always within arm's reach.
that's always within arm's reach.
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And it says: "Alex just matched
five rhyming words.
five rhyming words.
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Ask him to play this game with you.
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Can you think of a word
that rhymes with 'cat'?
that rhymes with 'cat'?
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Or how about 'ball'?"
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In our studies, when parents receive
simple tips like these,
simple tips like these,
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they felt empowered.
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They were so excited
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to play these games
at the dinner table with their kids.
at the dinner table with their kids.
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And the kids loved it, too.
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Not only did it feel like magic
that their parents knew
that their parents knew
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what they had been playing,
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kids love to play games
with their parents.
with their parents.
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Just the act of talking to kids
about their media
about their media
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can be incredibly powerful.
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Last summer, Texas Tech University
published a study
published a study
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that the show "Daniel Tiger's
Neighborhood" could promote
Neighborhood" could promote
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the development of empathy among children.
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But there was a really important
catch to this study:
catch to this study:
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the greatest benefit was only
when parents talked to kids
when parents talked to kids
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about what they watched.
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Neither just watching
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nor just talking about it was enough;
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it was the combination that was key.
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So when I read this study,
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I started thinking about
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how rarely parents of preschoolers
actually talk to kids about the content
actually talk to kids about the content
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of what they're playing
and what they're watching.
and what they're watching.
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And so I decided to try it
with my four-year-old.
with my four-year-old.
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I said,
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"Were you playing a car game
earlier today?"
earlier today?"
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And Benjamin perked up and said,
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"Yes! And did you see
that I made my car out of a pickle?
that I made my car out of a pickle?
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It was really hard to open the trunk."
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(Laughter)
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This hilarious conversation
about what was fun in the game
about what was fun in the game
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and what could have been better
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continued all the way
to school that morning.
to school that morning.
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I'm not here to suggest to you
that all digital media is great for kids.
that all digital media is great for kids.
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There are legitimate reasons
for us to be concerned
for us to be concerned
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about the current state
of children's content
of children's content
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on these screens.
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And it's right for us
to be thinking about balance:
to be thinking about balance:
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Where do screens fit
against all the other things
against all the other things
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that a child needs to do
to learn and to grow?
to learn and to grow?
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But when we fixate on our fears about it,
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we forget a really major point,
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and that is, that kids are living
in the same world that we live in,
in the same world that we live in,
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the world where the grownups
check their phones
check their phones
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more than 50 times a day.
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Screens are a part of children's lives.
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And if we pretend that they aren't,
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or if we get overwhelmed by our fear,
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kids are never going to learn
how and why to use them.
how and why to use them.
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What if we start raising our expectations
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for this media?
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What if we start talking to kids regularly
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about the content on these screens?
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What if we start looking
for the positive impacts
for the positive impacts
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that this technology can have
in our children's lives?
in our children's lives?
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That's when the potential of these tools
can become a reality.
can become a reality.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sara DeWitt - Children’s media expertInspired by Mister Rogers, Sara DeWitt strives to make every child feel special by charting the forefront of new digital mediums where kids spend their time.
Why you should listen
Sara DeWitt's work in the children's digital space was first inspired by Mister Rogers's approach to television. Just as he strove to make every child feel special through that new medium, her vision is to make each interaction with a game, stream and view an opportunity for children, parents, and teachers to learn and delight in new discoveries.
Over the last 18 years, DeWitt has worked at the forefront of new platforms, in an effort to be everywhere kids are: from websites and mobiles apps to streaming video, augmented reality, 3D-rendered experiences, and wearable technologies. She oversees the Kidscreen- and Webby-award winning pbskids.org website, PBS KIDS streaming video services and the PBS KIDS portfolio of educational apps for children. In 2014, she was named one of the top 42 Women Leading in Education by the USC Rossier School of Education and one of the Top Women in Digital by Cynopsis Media in 2016.
Before her career in public media, DeWitt worked as a preschool teacher, a management researcher and studied media habits of children in rural areas of the United States. She is a military spouse who has moved with her husband and two young sons four times in the last five years. They currently live in Alexandria, Virginia.
Sara DeWitt | Speaker | TED.com