Despite the incredibly strong research support, let me risk sounding old-fashioned for a moment: have we all gone mad?

We now have infants and toddlers, barely able to walk without tipping over, watching hours of highly stimulating online content as if this is normal childhood. Ms. Rachel, CoComelon, Baby Shark, Blippi, and the endless parade of digital performers have become part babysitter, part pacifier, and part substitute parent. This is not an attack on Ms. Rachel.

By all appearances, she seems warm, sincere, and cheerful. The problem is not one performer. The problem is the cultural surrender. We are allowing screens to occupy the space where early childhood is supposed to happen.

The Young Brain Is Built Through Real Life

Infants and toddlers are not designed to be entertained for hours. They are designed to explore. They learn by crawling, reaching, falling, touching, tasting, dropping, banging, babbling, climbing, spilling, and watching your face. They learn through mud, grass, blocks, spoons, pots, pans, books, puddles, and repetition in the real world.

Their brain is not built by passively watching life. It is built by participating in life

Yes, this participation is inconvenient. Real childhood is noisy. It includes yogurt on the wall, dirt in the fingernails, and a living room that looks like a small weather event moved through. But this is not a problem to be solved by a screen. This is childhood doing its job.

Research is increasingly pointing in........

© The Saratogian