Posted on 10/06/2005 1:10:36 AM PDT by Crackingham
Watching TV may damage children's brain development leading to increased anti-social behaviour, new research claims. There is also a correlation between the amount of television children watch and the degree of educational damage they suffer, according to the report by Dr Aric Sigman, who is an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. And significant long term damage occurs even at so-called modest levels of viewing - between one and two hours a day, the report, entitled Remotely Controlled, says.
Children now spend more time watching a TV screen than they spend in school, but viewing even a moderate amount can dramatically increase their risk of myopia, slow down their metabolic rate and may trigger premature puberty, according to Dr Sigman. It was also found to lead to a "significantly elevated risk" of sleep problems in adulthood, causing hormone changes, which in turn directly increase appetite and body fat production and damage the immune system leading to a greater vulnerability to cancer,
While the average Briton watches four hours of TV a day, children aged 11-15 spend seven and a half hours a day watching TV and computers - an increase of 40% in a decade -the scientist claims. More than half of three-year-olds have a TV set in their bedrooms and the average six-year-old will have already watched nearly one full year of their lives.
Dr Sigman said: "A 'dose-response relationship' between the amount of television children watch and the degree of educational damage they suffer is now emerging which has 'biological plausibility'.
"Television viewing is also now linked with stunting brain development in the child's frontal lobes leading to reduced impulse control and increased antisocial behaviour.
"Teachers are under pressure to vie for the child's attentional resources which have been damaged by exposure to fast changing screen images. This leaves teachers facing a generation of children who find it more difficult to pay attention and thereby learn but also exhibit poor self-restraint and anti-social behaviour," Dr Sigman added.
“Tune in, turn on, drop out.”
T.V. on, light a joint, forget homework.
Smoking pot and television, such an edifying educational tool...
Good call. My kids too.
If you chose to judge something without informing yourself on the subject being judge, then your judgement is in ignorance.
(sarcasm) Yes, your baby boomer generation was so enlightened...
And why is it you think I choose not to watch? Hint: I watched TV in the past.
Define past. How many years ago? A lot of good quality TV shows have come on in the last 15 years or so, most of them are not from ABC, NBC, nor CBS.
Bump for later read.
I watched less and less until late 2000, when we sold the TV when we moved and never replaced it.
http://www.netreach.net/~kaufman/Jerry.Mander.html try this url for starters...
Indeed. The '"commercial" aspect of it is not so much, but the mesmerizing effect is the same. The learning is probably beneficial, but the sitting still, starting at the screen is not.
TV ( and video games to an extent) is like carbon monoxide: It's not what the carbon monoxide itself is doing to you, it's what it's PREVENTING you from getting. (Breathing CO replaces oxygen in the blood - the CO doesn't kill you - it's the lack of oxygen).
Thank you for that analogy. I think that is perfect.
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