Article: Attention Problems Linked to Early TV Exposure

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Article: Attention Problems Linked to Early TV Exposure

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As we reported in Issue 6:

Dr. Alan Gaby, medical editor of the Townsend Letter for Doctors and Holistic

Medicine reports, " Time-lapse cinematography studies have shown that first-grade

children sitting under fluorescent lights become hyperactive, compared to those

exposed to standard lighting.

 

" The radiation emanating from television sets (not to mention the questionable

programming) may also have an adverse effect on behavior. In one study, rats

were placed in a cage fifteen feet away from a television set. Although the

sound was turned off and all visible light from the screen was shielded by a

piece of black cardboard, the rats became hyperactive and aggressive. However,

if a lead shield was placed over the black cardboard, the rats behaved

normally. "

 

Radiation exposure decreases as the square of distance. This means, for example,

that children sitting a foot from the television are bombarded with 25 times

more radiation than they would be at five feet away, and 225 times more than the

unfortunate rats in the study.

Now, a study has been published linking early television exposure and subsequent

attentional problems in children. (Pediatrics Vol. 113 No. 4 April 2004, pp.

708-713)

 

" Cross-sectional research has suggested that television viewing may be

associated with decreased attention spans in children. However, longitudinal

data [data covering an extended period of time, often several years] of early

television exposure and subsequent attentional problems have been lacking, " says

the abstract of the study.

When study author Dr. Dimitri Christakis of the University of Washington,

Seattle, analyzed longitudinal data for 1278 children at age 1 and 1345 children

at age 3, he found:

" ...for each additional daily hour of television that young children watched on

average, the risk of subsequently having attentional problems [by age 7] was

increased by almost 10. "

 

This means that 1- to 3-year-olds who watched eight hours of television a day

" would have an 80 percent higher risk or attentional problems compared to a

child who watched zero hours, " he explained.

" Our hypothesis is that it's the rapidity of image-change that's potentially

damaging to children's brains, " Christakis said. " They are experiencing events

unfolding in a surreal fashion -- this is not how life unfolds. "

Christakis, a pediatrician at Seattle's Children's Hospital and Regional Medical

Center, tells all of the parents he works with that " they should not let their

child watch television during the first two years of life, and subsequently they

should exert extreme caution both with respect to the amount and content. "

Current guidelines issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics agree.