Lately I’ve been trying to look every morning at what international day is being celebrated and this week it was packed: World Children’s Daythat of TV and today that of Music. Music is a universal language and together with childhood it becomes magic: it teaches valuesawakens emotions, is a refuge and an essential tool for imagination. From babies’ lullabies to the hits that play on the radio, passing through the Baby Shark and the Cantagamesmusic entertains and educates. But in the digital age so much is consumed through screens that it could be a problem.
It is common to see little ones with a tablet or the cell phone in your hand watching video clips and, although this content can be enriching, it also opens up the debate about the amount of time they spend in front of screens. Does this affect your development? How much is too much? According to several studies, children spend on average more than two hours up to date on mobile phones, tablets or televisions and the problem is not just time, but how that time affects their attention span, their creativity and their relationship with music.
Used judiciously, screens are a tool wonderful. Platforms like Spotify or YouTube give children access to diverse genres, languages and cultures. They speak better English Than ever, they dance to more rhythms and are more curious, although I also think that overexposure makes music stop being something that is felt and experienced and becomes something that is only consumed. You have to balance this: Live music on TikTok and live a guitar or keyboard in your living room. Music has the power to bind to people, to make you feel better after a bad day and to transform a screen into a window to the world. that the magic don’t get lost in the noise scroll and the likes.