A Sheffield University study published last month revealed that media and new technologies could help toddlers learn skills such as speaking, reading and writing.
The study, part-funded by the BBC and led by Jackie Marsh, said children were "growing up in a digital world", immersed in new technologies and the media from the day they were born.
The Sheffield University team said parents often saw new technologies as unhealthy. But the more than 1,800 parents who were interviewed said new technologies can be "extremely useful tools" when used in a measured way.
Dr Marsh said: "All too often, people make the assumption that children's use of media and new technologies is in some way 'unhealthy' but the parents and carers I surveyed found that when used in a measured way they can be extremely useful tools to teach vital life and social skills".
Professor Saviour Chircop, director of the Centre for Communications Technology (CCT) at the University of Malta, said in general parents in Malta perceive the media in good light.
"You often hear of controversies about a specific programme or other but the overall perception is that media are positive. However, the general perception still separates 'traditional' media from the ICTs.
"Media history is full of attempts at trying to identify one single factor responsible for the causes of good or evil in the present generation. The media have often fallen victim to this type of thinking. Yet together with other factors, the media play a role in influencing society, including children. Sesame Street is the most researched programme in children's TV. Even then, research indicated television had a positive impact on children's learning process."
The parents interviewed by the Sheffield team said their young children generally led well-balanced lives in which popular culture and media were only part of their leisure activities.
Despite the amount of homework given by teachers, Prof. Chircop said nowadays children have more choice regarding the activity they choose, because enterprises targeting children as their segment have increased.
"An important life skill that children need to learn is how to manage their time. This is difficult because children cannot see consequent events like grown ups. However, children need to be assisted and trained in making choices. Perhaps this is what marks our society from previous generations. We are all flooded with choices."
The Sheffield study parents said their children learned a lot from film and television, which had "a positive impact on many aspects of their lives". They also felt media education should be included in the school curriculum from a very young age and that schools should be doing more in this regard. Prof. Chircop said that given current developments in both the media and ICT, we needed to concentrate more on "multimodal" literacy.
"We are becoming more aware that functional citizens in today's society need to be literate in different communication methods. Knowing how to use the alphabet is not enough in today's culture. Children need to learn to read visual images, interact with machines and so on.
"But we also need to remember that although a number of media are available for communication (and more will be available for the next generation) a sound notion of oneself is at the centre of all communication. We need to teach children to be aware of themselves and express themselves in a number of ways."
One of the implications in the Sheffield University research was that family literacy programmes could be made more relevant and interesting, given families' knowledge and use of the new media. Likewise, software developers and television and film producers should work more closely with early years educators.