Can Your Podcasts Affect Baby's Development?

New parents have been well-conditioned to understand that too much screen time is bad for baby. The AAP advises that children 2 and under minimize screen time—whether it’s watching TV or playing with apps—as much as possible, and that parents resist the urge to leave the TV on all day in the background, since it distracts baby from the cognitive benefits that come from being focused on play. But what about podcasts? If you want to stream Pod Save America while baby plays, is that the lesser of two evils? Pretty much, new research finds.

While there’s not a ton of research dedicated to how audio storytelling or podcasts can affect baby’s development, so far, scientists are less worried about its disruptive effects. Unlike the bright flashes and cacophony of sounds on television, podcasts are designed to be simpler and less jarring to listen to. If you want to get your news rundown or take in This American Life while baby logs some time on the activity mat, you should feel free to do so.

"Parents seek [an audio show] out either for pleasure or for learning and parents deserve that. You can usually pause and attend to something that a child might need,” Jenny Radesky, MD, FAAP, the lead author of the AAP’s most recent report on screen time, tells Business Insider. “It’s possible that when a parent’s attention is really absorbed in a podcast, they’re trying to listen to a story or learn about science, it’s going to be hard for them to respond to children’s cues also. But on the other hand, I think it’s also really important for parents to feel enriched, so I don’t have as strong of an opinion as to whether they should listen to podcasts.”

But if you’re hoping your baby or toddler is learning from whatever you’re streaming, think again. Radesky explains that toddlers and infants process language best when they see how people react to auditory cues. Being able to fully understand a book on tape, for example, doesn’t really begin until preschool.

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