Ambient noise and other low movement videos around babies?

[jyohmesheh]

We try not to watch a lot of "real" TV (I.e., sports, sitcoms, etc. with lots of sounds and movement) but we do enjoy having ambient soundscape videos (such as a video of a crackling fireplace or a woods scene with light music) and actual-play streams of D&D (so, a scene of a bunch of people sitting around a table - lots of talking, very few scene changes or significant movements).

I'm curious if there's any real difference between these types of videos and traditional TV in terms of effects on our 8 month old. Basically, is there any evidence to suggest this type of viewing is "less bad" if she watches?

For reference, we don't encourage her to watch and we make an effort to keep her attention elsewhere by engaging with her and keeping her oriented away from it, so we're not using this in place of parenting. We just like to have some background noise that helps create a pleasant environment in our home. She only really pays attention to these things if we aren't actively engaging with her and/or she isn't interested in her own toys etc.

 

[lozzymagoo]

@jyohmesheh One thing I’d say is important is to have ample time in the day that is not filled by ambient background sound. For kids, that doesn’t do anything for them except be additional noise and can sometimes overwhelm kids. There was a post here recently about a parent whose kid started behaving much better once they stopped having the tv on as background noise. Of course it sings like your videos would be less stimulating, but just wanted to point it out anyway. Silence is important for kids to experience too.

 

[jyohmesheh]

@lozzymagoo Very good call out and something we probably should pay attention to. Just because we both do better with ambient noise around doesn't mean she always needs it.

 

[kamga]

@jyohmesheh Background noise, especially with talking, can make it harder for them to pick out the sound of actual people in the room talking, which can slow down language development. You don't really want to train their brains to tune out language sounds as background noise. Actual talking/reading aloud that's live in the room with them, or even better, interactive with them, is much different from a development perspective.

 

[martyiy]

@jyohmesheh https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5784839/

 

[jyohmesheh]

@martyiy Awesome, thanks!

 

[samuelcalebisrael]

@jyohmesheh All guidelines do not differentiate based on content, screen time is screen time and should be avoided around kids under the age of 2 and extremely limited until the age of 5.

AFAIK fireplaces and other “static” images do not really count, it’s mostly moving images and sounds. I would count the D&D streams as screen time personally.

 

[lisas]

@jyohmesheh i don't have any study to back this up but my thinking has been that if it's something a baby could see out the window if our house happened to be located next to a wildlife safari or a historic railroad or whatever instead of where it is then it counts more as window time than screen time

 

[nonamend]

@lisas I found chicken asmr videos because we don't live next door to a farm, unfortunately, but my baby really enjoyed it. Just chickens eating a pumpkin. He'd babble and point, drink his milk.

 

[adonai1]

@jyohmesheh Comments here about kids not being able to deal with noise throughout the day seem to forget that most people come from large families in crowded conditions, and always have. So I'd take their comments with a grain of salt.

But as for the question of whether different kinds of content can affect kids differently, I'm not sure if studies have been done here, but I've noticed at least with my own toddler a big difference. If I have on something like CocoMelon he becomes hyperstimulated and loses his mind if I turn it off. If I put on less stimulating content he'll sometimes watch, sometimes play on his own, and overall act more normally.

It's not "science" just anecdotal but you can probably see for yourself the difference. Good for you for trying.