The phrase “iPad kid” has plenty of negative connotations.

Parents of young children are often working or in need of a break, but are increasingly concerned about exposing their kids to excessive screen time. Relying too much on tablet, phone or other media seems to be a constant game of mental push-and-pull for parents.

These issues, while relevant, are not as dire as they may seem to be according to James ‘Alex’ Bonus, an associate professor in the Department of Communication. 

“My research tends to look at more optimistic or hopeful outcomes. I tend to focus on educational media and pro-social messages and those sorts of things,” he said. “I tend to come at it from a way of saying, ‘OK, there might be a lot of bad stuff there, but what are some of the potentially good things that are happening too?’”

Bonus initially became interested in educational media and its impacts in graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. With undergraduate degrees in journalism and sociology, he worked with Marie-Louise Mares, a professor in Communications Arts on research into Dora the Explorer. It was there that his passion for the topic was launched. 

“She was looking into racial representations and how kids learn to navigate those,” Bonus said. “I didn't know that was a field until I started working with her. I ended up just really falling in love with it and got a lot of experience doing those kinds of studies.”

When discussing the kind of content a child is absorbing, Bonus said he categorizes the situation into “the three C’s,” which consists of “context, content and child.” He describes the context part as a social aspect. For example, is the child engaging or communicating with a peer or an adult while also consuming the media? Or is the child simply watching with little to no human engagement? Making those human connections tends to be healthier for the child’s development.

When discussing the content portion of his equation, Bonus said paying attention to the depth of the media is important. “If they're engaging with educational media that's purposely designed to have some kind of valuable information that they could be taking away, we tend to find that's better than if they're watching something that is just bright lights and colors.”

Finally, the “child” portion of the equation largely comes down to the age of the child in question. If the child is extremely young, then they should be doing more physical things, but the “brain drain” impact that seems to be worrying parents also isn’t much of a concern yet. 

“Under age two, there's really nothing a kid's going to get from a screen that they shouldn't be getting better somewhere else doing something else,” Bonus said. “Socializing, touching physical toys are all going to be more beneficial. That said, you’re also not necessarily turning their brain to mush by putting them in front of that screen at that age. I always worry that we've created this guilt cycle with the way that we articulate that.”

Bonus however, added that using screens or similar kinds of media to help a small child “self-soothe or self-regulate” could become dangerous if utilized routinely, largely because the child will become reliant on screen media and in later stages of childhood, could potentially struggle with regulating emotions. Bonus added that playing with a tactile toy could at least teach them rudimentary skills and be more beneficial in situations where a young child might need positive stimulation.

Once a child does progress to a more impressionable age (between 1-3 years of age according to Bonus), he said media content that features educational elements and story narratives is significantly more beneficial than content that aims strictly to entertain. These stories and narratives help children identify, amongst other things, symbolism and problem solving. Bonus added that PBS shows and content tend to be more beneficial than “user generated” content published to YouTube.

Recently, Bonus has been more intensely studying how children translate the content that is produced for their demographic. In a recent study, Bonus and his fellow researchers found that many children view scientists as evil, crazy and supernatural. 

“When you ask children directly, as we did in this study, it may allow them to evaluate scientists as a broader group,” Bonus told Ohio State News. “In other words, children may rely on stereotypical imagery when drawing scientists but also recognize that such portrayals do not reflect all scientists.”

As he moves forward in his research, Bonus said he wants to focus more on the objective of children’s media and the overall goal they are trying to achieve. 

“It seems to me that what we really want these shows to do is make kids more interested in learning, not necessarily teach them the subjects because that is what school is for,” he said. 

Bonus said he and fellow researchers are working on collecting children’s viewing data from parents and looking to see if there is any correlation to a specific child’s interests. “Can this research actually predict changes in what the parent says the kid is interested in? That is what we want to find out,” he said. 

Ultimately, Bonus remains optimistic about the role media plays in children’s cognitive development, provided it is introduced carefully and intentionally. 

“I try to keep a hopeful lens,” Bonus said. “There's a lot of opportunities with these newer forms of media that kids who really have this niche or specific interest can find ways to learn about it in ways that would have been really difficult or even impossible in some cases 20 years ago.”