Parents and Toddlers
Interact More When Reading Paper Books Versus E-books
Parents and toddlers who read paper books together speak and
interact more when compared with those who read e-books, researchers
found.
Reading with
a child is a hugely important developmental activity as it helps youngsters
learn new words, broadens their knowledge and provides time to bond with loved
ones. So scientists wanted to see if parents and children acted
differently when they read books together using traditional media versus
electronic devices like tablets.
To
investigate, the researchers recruited 37 pairs of parents and healthy toddlers
between two and three years old. They asked them to read from three
different types of media: enhanced electronic books with sound effects or
animation; a basic electronic book; and a print book.
First, the
pairs were captured as they free-played with toys for five minutes in
a laboratory, which was set up to resemble a living room, before reading. The
authors documented what the parents and children spoke about as they consumed
the books.
Researchers
found parents and toddlers spoke more when interacting with a paper book rather
than a story on an electronic tablet. What’s more, parents used richer
language when using print books compared with tablets, and collaborated more
with their children.
But
parents were less responsive and children were less engaged with their
parents when reading e-books, Munzer said. The findings were published in
the journal Pediatrics.
Dr. Tiffany
Munzer, corresponding author of the study and a pediatric developmental
behavioral fellow at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's
Hospital, told Newsweek: "One
of the most surprising aspects is that these findings held true even when
parents and children read tablet books with few distracting enhancements,
suggesting it might be the actual tablet device that’s contributing to less
conversation and lower levels of collaboration between parents and
toddlers."
Munzer
pointed out, however, that the study was limited in several ways, including
that the team did not test the toddlers’ reading comprehension. "It may
not be clear how reading comprehension on a tablet might compare with reading
comprehension on a print book,” she said.
The study
was also limited by the small sample size, and the fact that the team used only
one commercially-available app for the e-books. Future studies should use
different types of apps with “more animated features or different bells and
whistles,” Munzer said.
So should
parents ditch tablets when reading with their children, or is some reading
better than none, regardless of the device?
"Parents
and toddlers know how to engage over a book, but when adding a tablet into the
mix, it deflects from some of the positive benefits of that shared reading
experience," said Munzer.
"That
isn’t to say there is no benefit to electronic book reading compared with doing
nothing, just less compared with print books. Print books are just better for
promoting rich language from their parents and more conversation between
parents and children."
Munzer said
that parents always know their children best "so they should
feel empowered to adjust the reading experience to what they know their
children are interested in: even comics and magazines count as
reading."
In 2017, a
separate study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology found that
toddlers were more likely to pay attention to and be willing to read when using
e-books compared with children who consumed the same books in
print.
The authors
wrote: "One important caveat to our findings is that increased engagement
does not always translate into increased learning."
Last year, a
different study also shed light on the apparent benefits of reading to
children. The paper, published in the journal Pediatrics, suggested children were less
hyperactive at school if their parents read aloud with them.
SOURCES: Tiffany Munzer, M.D.,
fellow, developmental behavior pediatrics, University of Michigan C.S. Mott
Children's Hospital, Ann Arbor; Suzy Tomopoulos, M.D., assistant professor,
pediatrics, NYU Langone School of Medicine, New York City; March 25, 2019, Pediatrics,
online
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