Not only do television and entertainment media not hinder children's learning when it comes to vocabulary development, but studies such that those of Donna Mumme and Anne Fernald (2003) indicate that children can learn to interact with their environment through the media. Mumme and Fernald's article, "The Infant as Spectator: Learning from Emotional Reactions Observed in a Television Scenario," explains that 12-month-olds can use the societal cues they see on television to influence the way they interact with and view objects. In this study, 10- and 12-month-old children watched an actress on television interact with a toy before interacting with the toy themselves. The children observed the actress reacting to the objects neutrally during the control test and with positive or negative emotions during the experimental tests. Mumme and Fernald found that 12-month-olds changed the way they interacted and viewed new objects based on how they watched the actress interact with the objects on television. Although there was not much difference in how children interacted with the toys after watching the neutral and positive affect videos, the negative affect condition resulted in a significant increase in children's negative emotions and of their tendency to avoid the object. This study suggests that children can learn important lessons about how to interact with the world around them from television. Therefore, the use of entertainment media could actually greatly benefit children and should not be “avoided” in any way. Additionally, this study included children right in the middle of the age range (2 years and younger) targeted by the American Academy of Pediatrics with its policy suggestion, making it directly applicable evidence that... .... middle of paper. .....their children to watch over. Parents should be careful to avoid violent media or those that convey negative values ​​that they would not want their children to emulate. This ultimately depends on the discretion of the parents. Television and entertainment media should not be avoided, but rather can be used as a useful educational tool if used correctly. Works Cited Akhtar, N. The Robustness of Auditory Learning. Developmental Science, 199-209.DeLoache, J., Chiong, C. and O'Doherty, K. Do babies learn from infant media?.PsychologicalScience, 1570-1574.Fernald, A. and Mumme, D. The Infant As a spectator: learning from the emotional reactions observed in a television scenario. Child Development, 221-237. Roseberry, S., Hirsh-Pasek, K. and Golinkoff, R. Skype Me! Socially Contingent Interactions Help toddlers learn language. Child development, 1-15.