What Shapes Today's Children: TV vs. Parents: Real Talk

TV is believed to be the main source of knowledge for today's kids. Pair (dating app to find the right person) released a poll from 7/10/14 to 9/17/14, where it asked people to respond to the question: "Does TV and films influence children more than parents?"

The majority (67%) agree that TV has a greater impact on a child's development than even his parents.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics: "Early years are crucial in a child's development. We strongly oppose targeted programming, especially when it's used to market toys, games, dolls, unhealthy food and other products to children. Especially at a young age, talking, singing, reading, listening to music or playing are far more important to a child's development than any TV show."

Participants numbered 30,455, representing the following countries: the USA — 46%, Canada — 4%, Britain — 13%, Australia — 8% and other countries — 29%.

Alex Cusper, Pair service analyst, assumes that "the problem is especially significant in the developed countries, as in the modern technological era it is considered normal or even a must for the child to possess all kinds of devices since early years. Parents, being able to afford it, tend to neglect the fact that it is still them who make choices about how to bring up the child."

Pair, a leading mobile dating service, regularly conducts research among its users. Millions of people from the U.S., Canada, Britain and Australia answer hundreds of questions every month. You can learn more about tips for finding the right people on the app, discover what Invisible Mode is and how to use it, read about how Pair handles fake profiles to keep the community trustworthy, or find out how to save time when searching for people on Pair. If you are interested in research on a particular topic, please contact us. Any reprint of the material should be followed by clickable links to the survey.