This
study explores the associations between electronic media exposure, age, and
socioeconomic status (SES) in a longitudinal sample of 24 infants from
English-speaking families. Leveraging Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA)
technology, the study seeks to characterize the relation between electronic
media exposure and parental and child vocal activity. We analyzed
ecologically valid, daylong audio recordings collected in infants’ homes when
they were 6, 10, 14, 18, and 24 months old. SES was measured with the
Hollingshead Index, and exposure to electronic media and adult and infant
vocal activity were measured automatically with LENA. On average, the
children in the sample were exposed to 58 min of electronic media daily. We
found that electronic media exposure was negatively associated with SES and
decreased with child age, but only amongst high-SES families. We also found
that electronic media exposure negatively impacted concurrent adult and child
vocal activity, irrespective of SES and infant age. The present findings are
an important step forward in examining the role of demographic factors in
exposure to electronic media and enhance our understanding of the mechanisms
through which exposure to electronic media may impact linguistic development
in infancy and beyond.
