Screens bad, reading good
If there is a debate about this, it is mostly around the edges. There are obviously good and bad screens. And probably very good and less good books.
Still, there is a fairly broad consensus that screen time should be limited—as close to zero as possible before the age of three—and that reading is good for children’s development. Getting outside matters too, of course.
Well, we have discovered a very simple trick that, in a way, resolves the conflict between books and screens.
Turn on the subtitles
There: that is the whole trick. It is fairly obvious when you think about it, and there is research to back it up: turning on subtitles in your children’s own language when they watch cartoons can help them learn to read, build their vocabulary and develop a taste for reading.
This is not an invitation to leave them in front of a screen all day. And the cartoons need dialogue. Grizzy and the Lemmings and Rabbids Invasion are wonderfully inventive, but their wordless antics do not give subtitles much to work with.
It works for other languages too
This was even more obvious, but while we are discussing subtitles for children, it is worth a reminder: watching programmes in the language they are learning, subtitled in their own language, helps them learn that language. Once they have learned to read thanks to subtitles in their own language—and school, obviously.
Research has looked at learning both intentionally—“Come on, let’s learn some English”—and incidentally—“Oops, we’ve ended up at the subtitled screening.” See the study on intentional learning and the study on incidental learning.
Spread the word
Tell your friends, the grandparents, the whole neighbourhood. Imagine a revolution that takes just one change in the settings: all those children watching cartoons suddenly getting interested in books.
Perhaps we should also start a petition asking streaming services and television channels to turn on subtitles by default for children’s programmes. Will you write it? We’re ready to sign and share!