Study: TV Is Babysitting Kids, and Dumbing Them Down

[JackRiddler]

Source: PC Mag & other pubs today

CHICAGO (Reuters) - About 90 percent of U.S. children under age 2 and as many as 40 percent of infants under three months are regular watchers of television, DVDs and videos, researchers said on Monday. They said the number of young kids watching TV is much greater than expected.

(...)

A second study suggested excessive TV viewing can lead to attention and learning problems down the road. The American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that children in the United States watch about four hours of television every day. They recommend that children under age 2 should not watch any and older children should watch no more than 2 hours a day of quality programming. But 29 percent of parents surveyed by Zimmerman and colleagues believe baby-oriented TV and DVD programs offer educational benefits.

(...)

"Parents are getting the message loud and clear from marketers of TV and videos that this is good for their kids. That it will help their brain development ... None of this stuff has ever been proven," Zimmerman said in a telephone interview.

(...)

"Even watching more than an hour of TV per day had some adverse consequences, but three hours was much worse than one hour, and two was worse than one," Jeffrey Johnson of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York State Psychiatric Institute said in a telephone interview. Johnson and colleagues studied 678 families in New York state over more than 20 years. "Kids who watched less than one hour of TV per day were twice as likely to go to college as those who watched three or more hours per day," he said.

Read more: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2126962,00.asp

---

What a shock - Baby Einstein and "educational tv" as the lure for persuading well-meaning parents to entrain infants to watch, watch, watch. (And it's so convenient!) The more watched, the worse the impact, regardless of program. Passivity, irritability and lower verbal and communication are the psychological impacts inherent to the medium itself, regardless of content.

More articles on it:

Most parents let babies watch TV, despite advice
CBC News - 13 hours ago
By the time children are two years old, 90 per cent of them regularly spend time watching TV, DVDs and videos, US researchers have found...
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/05/07/tv-babies.html&cid=1116121925

http://news.google.com/?ncl=1116121925&hl=en

[Karenina]

1. Television, Drug of the Free

http://www.ocap.ca/songs/televisn.html

Television, Drug of the Free
by Disposable Heroes of Hipocrisy (Michael Franti, 1991)

One nation under god has turned into
one nation under the influence of one drug

(chorus)
Television, the drug of the nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

T.V., it satellite links
our united states of unconsciousness
apathetic therapeutic and extremely addictive
the methadone metronome pumping out
150 channels 24 hours a day
you can flip through all of them
and still there's nothing worth watching
T.V. is the reason why less than ten percent
of our nation reads books daily
why most people think Central America means Kansas
socialism means unamerican
and apartheid is a new headache remedy
absorbed in its world it's so hard to find us
it shapes our mind the most
maybe the mother of our nation
should remind us that we're sitting too close to...

(chorus)
Television, the drug of the nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

T.V. is the stomping ground
for political candidates
where bears in the woods
are chased by grecian formula'd bald eagles
T.V. is mechanized politic's
remote control over the masses
co-sponsored by enironmentally safe gases
watch for the PBS special
it's the perpetuation of the two-party system
where image takes precedence over wisdom
where sound bite politics are served
to the fastfood culture
where straight teeth in your mouth
are more important than the words
that come out of it
race baiting is the way to get elected
Willie Horton or will he not get elected on...

(chorus)
Televison, the drug of the nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

T.V., is it the reflector or the director
does it imitate us or do we imitate it
because a child watches 1500 murders
before he's twelve years old
and we wonder how we've created
a Jason generation that learns to laugh
rather than abhor the horror
T.V. is the place where armchair generals
and quarterbacks can experience first hand
the excitement of video warfare
as the themesong is sung in the background
sugar sweet sitcoms that leave us with
a bad actor taste while pop stars metamorphosize
into soda pop stars you saw the video
you heard the soundtrack
well now go buy the soft drink
well, the only cola that I support
is a union C.O.L.A. (cost of living allowance) on...

(chorus)
Television, the drug of the nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

Back again, "new and improved"
we return to our irregularly programmed schedule
hidden cleverly between heavy breasted
beer and car commmercials
CNNESPNABCTNT but mostly B.S.
where oxymoronic language like
"virtually spotless" "fresh frozen"
light yet filling" and
"military intelligence" have become standard
T.V. is the place where phrases are redefined
like "recession" to "necessary downturn"
"crude oil" on a beach to "mousse"
"civilian death" to "collateral damages"
and being killed by your own army
is now called "friendly fire"
T.V. is the place where the pursuit of
happiness has become the pursuit of trivia
where toothpaste and cars
have become sex objects
where imagination is sucked out of children
by a cathode ray nipple
T.V. is the only wet nurse
that would create a cripple
on...

(chorus)
Television, the drug of the nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

[Starbucks Anarchist]

4. I did like the irony of that song played as a music video -- on television.

:rofl:

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Frank Zappa said it best:

I am gross and perverted
I'm obsessed 'n deranged
I have existed for years
But very little had changed
I am the tool of the government
And industry too
For i am destined to rule
And regulate you

I may be vile and pernicious
But you can't look away
I make you think i'm delicious
With the stuff that i say
I am the best you can get
Have you guessed me yet?
I am the slime oozin' out
From your tv set

You will obey me while i lead you
And eat the garbage that i feed you
Until the day that we don't need you
Don't got for help...no one will heed you
Your mind is totally controlled
It has been stuffed into my mold
And you will do as you are told
Until the rights to you are sold

That's right, folks..
Don't touch that dial

Well, i am the slime from your video
Oozin' along on your livin'room floor

I am the slime from your video
Can't stop the slime, people, lookit me go

[Hard_Work]

14. The group is actually

Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. Michael Franti during his hiphop phase. Great song, great group.

[woodsprite]

2. Guess I won't worry about my son then.

Our schedules are so full, he doesn't get that much time except on the weekends. He watches about 1/2 hr/day during the week (while I'm getting dressed for work, after he eats breakfast).

On Saturdays, he watches, but his TV experiences are interactive. He usually dresses up like whatever character he's watching and I swear it's an aerobic workout. He's jumping, running, riding his spring horse, pretending he's Hercules, Zorro, a cowboy, or a ninja warrior, etc. I don't know whether other kids do that or not, but he's definitely getting physical exercise, he's not sitting like a bump on a log and just staring at the TV. Kinda cool actually, and the costumes he comes up with are pretty creative. ;)

[hobbit709]

3. Not surprising

I grew up in Vienna until I was 9. We didn't have TV. By the time I was 5, I was reading in English and both modern and Gothic German print. My grandfather had about 2000 books in his library. When I came to the US in 1959 and started school here, my reading, math and language skills were about 3 years ahead of the kids I went to school with. My parents didn't even own a TV until 1961.

[Arkansas Granny]

5. I hate to sound like the old fogey here, but it can't be helped.

It just seems that many parents find it easier to park the kid in front of the tube than to spend the time reading to them, playing with them or taking them outside for exercise. It doesn't help matters when they are being bombarded with ads that make it sound like you are neglecting your child if you don't buy them this game or video. There wasn't as much programming aimed at children when my kids were growing up, but when it wasn't raining or too cold, my kids played outside.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. Duh

Seriously, my first thought when I saw this on the news this morning was about that repukelican bush praised at the SOTU for her Baby Einstein company.

[Bigmack]

7. "OWW,,, My Balls"....

Sorry... that's an "Idiocracy" in-joke.

And have you seen "Rad Girls" on FUSE network? We can't dumb-down... we're there already!

[AngryAmish]

9. Then why does average IQ keep increasing?

Look up the Flynn effect.

[Alexander]

23. High IQ means less these days, because of what you said...

It's estimated that if you score 130 on today's IQ test, you would've scored 100 back in 1900. So IQ tests are proving to be more and more meaningless.

[AngryAmish]

24. Exactly the opposite is true

Those who score 100 now would have scored 130 them. IQ score is on a Bell curve. A 100 for a test mean half the people are smarter than you and half dumber.

Every ten or so years IQ tests have to be renormed. If on a test in 1980 the average person (of a set age) scored 25 out of 50, by 1990 or 1995 the average score would be 53 or 55 (I'm making up the example). If a 100 IQ young adult today took a test from 1900 they would score a standard deviation or more higher (putting them at the genius level in 1900).

Bottom line: across all cultures in industrialized societies people are getting smarter and continue to do so.

[Alexander]

25. Nonsense.

SAT tests have had to be dumbed down over the years so students can pass them. That's not indicative of people "getting smarter".

Also, the length of the average soundbite and commercial has noticeably decreased over time, because attention spans have gone to hell.

Can you imagine watching 40 second soundbites from each candidate on the news? That's what it was like in 1968. But now, we get 5 seconds of the juiciest remark.

I'd like to see some sources for what you're claiming - I haven't met a single individual who claims Americans are "getting smarter".

[Igel]

27. AA's been silent for a while.

Try these links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/FLYNNEFF.html
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=00037F65-D9C0-1C6A-84A9809EC588EF21

I'm not going to address whether or not 'intelligence' is rising.

But there are a few different things going on with standardized scholastic tests. People are being prepped for them, and in some cohorts scores are rising; but there's a very large number of students that would never had taken the SATs 40, or even 20, years ago, and they score lower. The average masks a lot of in-group variation over time and is really quite useless.

[AngryAmish]

28. We need data not anecdote

I'll call your soundbite data point and raise you the intelligence of the average television drama. Plot lines are much more complex and require more thinking nowadays. Compare X Files to Dragnet or Cannon.

Look at the links in the other post regarding the Flynn effect. It is not just Americans. It is in every industrialized nation. Nutrition and health care probably have a lot to do with it.

The Flynn effect existence is not at all controversial among scientists. Causes et al is.

[bdamomma]

10. of course, it is, and children are reading less too.

[bleedingheart]

11. People make the choice....

TV can dumb you down and it can broaden your horizons...it is all in how you use it.

As a kid I remember movies I saw on TV that inspired me to read certain books and because I had a mother who encouraged me to read and be educated...I turned out ok.

My TV is password protected in my home and my children aren't allowed to play their video games during the school week and when they do get them...it is for a limited amount of time.

Do my kids watch TV...of course...but I discuss what they watch...I encourage conversation and the stuff they see on TV has also motivated them to learn more about topics...

[sybylla]

12. Sounds like bullsh*t to me

Infants under three months are lucky to be able to focus on their fingers when they are held before their face - let alone a television 6 feet away.

And just what do they mean by "regular watchers"? If every time I run to the bathroom I park my baby's carrier in front of the television so that they think someone might be in the room with them does that make them a regular watcher?

This Baby Einstein stuff came out long after my boys were born, but there was plenty of children's programming available. They weren't interested in any of it until they were near two and then usually only stopped playing long enough to dash to the TV to watch the commercials. By three, they were much more likely to be engrossed in two hours or more of children's programming/movies a day.

Think of what they could have been if they hadn't been regular watchers, crippled by the dumbing effects of television. I am deeply saddened by the possibilities, considering they are now both working towards engineering degrees. Maybe I could have saved myself a heap of money if I'd made them sit there a few hours longer.

I'm not denying there is a problem with some parents building connections with their children instead of watching television. But these henny penny, sky is falling bullshit surveys only serve to drive new parents insane. They heap more guilt on top of an already overburdened and caring parent yet have no effect on parents who couldn't care less.

In truth, it's been my experience that a caring parent would really have to work hard to screw up their children. They pretty much grow up in spite of us.

[EFerrari]

21. And sometimes pull us up with them.

My son followed me around the room with his face -- like a sunflower-- when he was two days old. That might have been the last time I had his full attention. :)

[Phoonzang]

13. I thought the "TV makes you dumb" idea had

died back in the 90s... Did anyone ever think to take into account what you watch on TV rather than the idea that TV itself is the cause of problems.

[Arugula Latte]

15. A lot of the kids I know are scarily smart...

They know a lot more at this age than we did back in the 70s.

I'm including my own kids in that assessment. :)

[jwirr]

16. Our children watch a lot of Sprout TV. But they also have a lot of

other activities. I think it is probably the balance that is needed. We also read to them and they go to pre-school, etc. I think the dumbing down comes when parents are not involved and it is truly a babysitter.

[jollyreaper2112]

17. and stupid people vote republican

I have a suspicion this is intentional.

[RaleighNCDUer]

18. Confusing cause and effect?

"Kids who watched less than one hour of TV per day were twice as likely to go to college as those who watched three or more hours per day,"

could be interpreted as, "Middle-class and above families can afford the expensive activies that might keep kids away from the television, such as sports, clubs, dance classes, etc. Television is the primary entertainment of the poor, who are less likely to be able to go to college."

IMO, if they are watching films and quality, commercial-free programming TV is not such a bad thing. But since 90% of everything is crap, it stands to reason that 90% of TV is crap, so planting the kids in front of a TV without parental control exposes them to a lot of crap.

I would say that the quality of childrens programming is considerably higher than the quality of general programming, but they still get the prejudices and ingrained cultural dreck in the 18 minutes of commercials for every hour of programming. That is where most the damage comes from.

[kestrel91316]

19. I've been saying this for 25 years.........

It used to be religion was the "opiate of the masses". Now TV is.

[EFerrari]

20. Hasn't this been happening since around 1960?

Or, was I the only kid that watched The Loretta Young Theater? lol

[Vilis Veritas]

22. TV is a medium for selling useless garbage.

Zappa had it right, slime.

Oh yea, and stay away from Yellow Snow...and change your socks...

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

26. Delete

Didn't RTFA