Programming for preschoolers on Nick Jr and Disney consists of 20-minute programs commercial-free, and DD7 displayed an ability to pay attention and actively engage with that kind of programming as an infant... so we turned her loose. We found it to be a useful way to expose her to a wider array of vocabulary and ideas, because the conversation in the house would have been mostly about her. We credit it for some of her early language development... her first intelligible word was "Doodlebop."
These days, DD7 would rather be playing with her friends, so while she might not be averaging 1.5+ hours/day lately, I still chose that option because we've never regulated it. Just as before, she's into programming well beyond her age, and these days her favorites are younger teen-oriented comedies like iCarly and Good Luck Charlie. She's also fascinated by How It's Made, and while she doesn't go out of her way for it, if I happen to have Mythbusters on, she'll watch it with me.
DD has nearly always watched with actively-engaged adults, and as a visual learner, it's a great learning tool for her. Yes, that includes when she's watching what would ostensibly be intellectually-devoid content like iCarly. It doesn't come at the expense of reading, either, as she reads in her free time at school every day, and at bedtime.
So yeah... we fell right in line with that research paper without noticing.
