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TV Comes Between Parent and Child

By On · Add Comment · In attention, child development, children, parents, television, TV, verbal interaction

Want a developmentally-stunted child? Then keep the TV on. Want to be a mentally-absent parent? Again, keep the boob tube running constantly. In fact, if you want to hinder your child’s development to the utmost, then just put the kid in a playpen, leave the TV on, and do your thing, baby. That’s the way.

Damn, that’s hard Campos. No it’s not. The data is out and it’s conclusive: TV makes people stupid!!! Sorry.

Here’s the latest: A team at the University of Massachusetts observed about 50 children, aged 1, 2 and 3 years, who were with a parent at a university child study center. For half of a one-hour session, parents and children were in a playroom without a television; in the other half-hour, parents chose a program to watch.

The researchers studied how much verbal interaction there was between parents and children, whether parents were actively involved in their children’s play, and whether they responded to each other’s questions and suggestions.

The study authors found that while the TV was on, parents spent about 20 percent less time talking to their children and were less active, attentive and responsive to their kids, resulting in a decrease in the quality of the interactions.

This study is important, researchers say, since more than one-third of American infants and toddlers live in homes where the television is on most or all the time, even if no one’s watching. This study challenges the popular notion that television doesn’t affect young children if they are not watching the screen. Wrong! It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that parental interaction is imperative in child development. And this study just reinforces how television pulls parents’ attention away from where it is needed the most–the children. So turn off The View ladies (and ESPN, gents), and keep your attention on the kids–they deserve it!

*More info on how TV affects your child.

Too Much Dummy Tube Leads to ADD

By On · Add Comment · In ADD, attention, attention deficit disorder, brain, brain development, children, concentration, dendrites, dendritic pathways, dummy tube, focus, problem solving, T.V., television

We all know that too much T.V. isn’t good for the brain, right? Well, at least most people with common sense suspect so, anyway. But now we have proof: Current research shows that young children who watch more than two hours of the brainfryer a day are more likely to have attention problems as adolescents.

Duh. You mean that constantly changing visual images rapidly flashing on a screen – sometimes faster than the human mind can comprehend (anyone hear of subliminal messages) – might have long term effects. You don’t say?

Think about it for a second (I’d have you think about it for a minute, but veteran television watchers might change the channel): Television really does consist of rapidly changing images. As a medium, it does not engage your concentration. You just passively watch images and listen to the accompanying audio. No thinking or concentrating necessary. True, you are following a story (reality shows notwithstanding), but it’s still a passive activity.

One might make an argument for educational T.V. (like Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and the History Channel), but you still passively watch and listen, which does nothing for the development of focus or concentration. Add to that today’s popular programming – reality shows, awards shows, music videos – and the term dummy tube starts to take on a whole new accuracy, doesn’t it?

The study, carried out at the Dunedin School of Medicine in New Zealand, showed that children who watched two or more hours per day were at a significant risk for developing attention deficit disorders later in life. And those who watched over three hours per day were at even greater risk. According to Carl Erik Landhuis, one of the lead authors of the study, kids who get used to watching lots of attention-grabbing TV may find ordinary life situations – like the classroom – boring. It’s also possible, he adds, that TV may simply crowd out time spent doing other activities that can build attention and concentration skills, such as reading and playing games.

Yes, that’s exactly it. Activities like reading, solving puzzles, playing sports and other games, learning computers or instruments, all require focus and concentration. They also require thinking and problem solving which leads to the development of dendritic pathways in the brain and nervous system, which leads to overall brain development. I’m sorry but T.V. doesn’t do that – no thinking involved. Furthermore, learning to entertain oneself in the absence of mind-numbing image flashing is the gateway to the imagination. Give your kid a copy of Tom Sawyer, Harry Potter, Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew, or whatever, and let them learn to stimulate their own vivid and priceless imaginations. And get them away from the dummy tube. Trust me, our autonomy and self-sufficiency as a civilization depend on it.

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