The ‘Daniel Tiger' effect: How quality kids' TV impacts teen mental health—and why cuts to PBS could be disastrous
Parents used to be freaked out when kids were reading romance novels or Horatio Alger books. It seems quaint now, when so many parents (and teens!) are concerned about the effects of social media and screen time. But it speaks to a universal truth: The stories we learn have the power to shape our lives.
Stories are among the oldest forms of teaching. They don't just shape our thinking, they actually affect us at a neural level. This is especially true for kids: The entertainment that children consume during their most formative years plays an important role in shaping who they become and how they relate to the world around them.
Now, however, some of the most reliable sources for high-quality children's media are on the chopping block with the administration's threat to cut federal funding of PBS, accounting for 15% of its funding, which will only limit access to valuable programming that can impact future generations. In fact, the U.S. Department of Education recently notified the Corporation for Public Broadcasting about the immediate termination of its Ready to Learn grant, taking away the remaining $23 million of a grant that was set to end on September 30. PBS has received this grant every five years for the past 30 years, and it accounts for one-third of PBS Kids' annual budget.
There have been many studies on the immediate effects of media on children, from specific learning goals to impacts on self-esteem. But one thing that hadn't been measured extensively was how much those learnings persist over time. That's why my colleagues and I at the Center for Scholars & Storytellers at the University of California, Los Angeles, studied the long-term impact of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, a modern-day Mister Rogers-inspired program. The show, which we weren't involved with, was developed in close collaboration with child-development experts to purposefully and thoughtfully model social skills and emotional regulation tools for young kids.
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