Videos and Vocabulary: How Digital Media Use Impacts the Types of Words Children Know

The last decade has seen an exponential rise in children's digital media use, as well as growing evidence that it is associated with changes in children's vocabulary. However, while high rates of low-quality digital media have been associated with lower amounts of words a child says, little work has examined whether digital media alters the types of words a child knows. Here, we explore whether differences in the amount of digital media exposure are associated with differences in the composition of children's vocabulary. The current study surveyed 388 caregivers of children 17-30 months (M = 23.9 months) on their children's productive vocabulary and technology use. Multiple regression models predicted the proportion of words children knew in different semantic categories based on the time they spent watching videos/TV, controlling for total noun vocabulary size, age, and income. Increased video watching was associated with producing a smaller proportion of body part words and more people and furniture words, but not other semantic categories. Increased video watching was not associated with differences in shape- or material-based nouns. The results suggest that differences in children's video watching are associated with differences in overall vocabulary size, but also with the particular types of words children know. This may have implications for supporting children's future language in a technology-filled world. SUMMARY: Digital media exposure has been associated with changes in children's vocabularies. However, little work examines whether the media alters the types of words a child learns. The current study explores whether differences in the amount of digital media exposure are associated with differences in the composition of children's vocabulary. Increased video watching was associated with producing fewer body part words, more people, and more furniture words, but no difference in shape- or material-based nouns. The results suggest that differences in children's video watching are associated with differences in overall vocabulary size, but also with the types of words children know.