1-157 - From Screen to Real Life and Back Again: Social, Emotional, and Cognitive Support in Children's Use of Video Chat and Live Photos

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Research on children’s media has implications for public policy. The American Academy of Pediatrics (2011) discourages media use for children under age 2, but recent updated guidelines make exceptions for media that mimic live interactions (Brown et al, 2014). Video chat allows young children to have contingent conversations with responsive on-screen partners, but is challenging in terms of joint attention (Demers et al, 2013), transfer (Barr, 2013), and symbolic representation (Troseth, 2010). How do children engage emotionally with on-screen people? How can co-viewers support responsiveness and learning during video chat? What are the cognitive effects of children’s exposure to real-time images?

Paper 1 examines behavioral and physiological measures of emotional engagement and joint attention as 6- to 24-month-olds video-chatted with familiar adults in the lab and at home. Paper 2 examines how a live co-viewer can support 24- to 30-month-olds’ responsiveness and learning from video chat. Paper 3 examines how highlighting the relation between real-time smartphone photos and reality can foster 24-month-olds’ performance on an object retrieval task.

The presentations in this symposium use different methods (naturalistic, experimental), measures (behavioral, physiological, attentional), and ages (infants, toddlers) to show that interactions with live media are not effortless, but can be developmentally appropriate when children engage with familiar on-screen partners, when a co-viewer scaffolds interactions, and when an adult highlights the relation between the on-screen and real-world events. This symposium will show whether and how live media can be used effectively to foster young children’s learning and relationships.

Sub Unit

• Technology, Media & Child Development

Chair

• Lauren Myers, Lafayette College

Discussant

• Rachel Barr, Georgetown Psychology

Individual Presentations

• Can Babies Skype? Baby and Toddler Engagement in Video Chat Interactions with Their Relatives - Presenting Author: Elisabeth McClure, Georgetown University; Yulia Chentsova-Dutton, Georgetown University; Rachel Barr, Georgetown Psychology; Steven Holochwost, Johns Hopkins University; W. Gerrod Parrott, Georgetown University

• Effects of Co-Viewing on 2-year-olds' Responses To and Learning From Video Chat - Presenting Author: Lauren Myers, Lafayette College; Edoukou Aka-Ezoua, Lafayette College; Christopher Felix, Lafayette College; Amanpreet Samra, Lafayette College

• Snap a Selfie! Smartphone Photos and Video Chat Promote Young Children’s Learning from Digital Pictures - Presenting Author: Georgene Troseth, Vanderbilt University; Colleen Russo, Vanderbilt University; Israel Flores, Vanderbilt University