Electronic media coming between you and kids

It's not just teens caught up in electronic media, but also preschoolers, according to a recent study.

In fact, there is little mother-child dialogue or conversation while children ages 3 to 5 are using media, such as TV, video games and mobile devices, as per the University of Michigan study.

The U-M study used enhanced audio equipment to track the home environment of preschoolers as they interacted with parents in 2010 and 2011.

For the study's 44 families, the recordings averaged nearly 10 hours daily. The recordings documented the format of media used, duration and communication between the mother and child.

Children of mothers with graduate degrees had less electronic media exposure than kids of mothers with high school degrees and/or some college courses, the study showed.

The kids whose moms had advanced degrees often watched educational programs. In addition, these highly educated mothers were more likely than other mothers to discuss media with their children, said lead author Nicholas Waters.

"Importantly, children of mothers with less than a graduate degree were exposed to media without any dialogue related to the media content for the vast majority of the time," said co-author Sarah Domoff.

This is important, she said, because parents' "active mediation" of television and other types of media may mitigate risks associated with media exposure.

The study will be presented at Association for Psychological Science Conference.