Aim: Parents sometimes show young children YouTube videos on their smartphones. We studied the interaction of 55 Indian children born between December 2014 and May 2015 who watched YouTube videos when they were 6-24 months old.
Methods: The children were recruited by the researchers using professional and personal contacts and visited by the same two observers at four ages, for at least 10 minutes. The observers recorded the children's abilities to interact with touch screens and identify people in videos and noted what videos attracted them the most.
Results: The children were attracted to music at six months of age and were interested in watching the videos at 12 months. They could identify their parents in videos at 12 months and themselves by 24 months. They started touching the screen at 18 months and could press the buttons that appeared on the screen, but did not understand their use. The children preferred watching dance performances by multiple artists with melodical music, advertisements for products they used and videos showing toys and balloons.
Conclusion: Children up to two years of age could be entertained and kept busy by showing them YouTube clips on smartphones, but did not learn anything from the videos.
Keywords: Infant entertainment; Infant learning; Smartphone; Video; YouTube.
©2018 Foundation Acta Paediatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.