New Study Links Childhood Television Viewing With ADD

So I am in big trouble. I am a mom of three kids, two under the age of four, and according to the latest study released by the Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, children under two should not be allowed to watch any television because it may significantly increase their chances of suffering attention problems later in life. If you are like me, this is some tough news to hear. Scientists involved in the project said that television can "reprogram the brain". And it gets worse, if your children are even over the age of two, the study of 1,345 children, and the scientists that conducted it, urged that television viewing be restricted to a maximum of two hours a day. There go the Barney, TeleTubbies, Sesame Street, and Dragon Tail marathons that go on in my house. According to this study, every hour of shows my children watch, increases their chances of having ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) by 10 percent. That's astounding! In 1999 the American Academy of Pediatrics informed parents that children under two should not be permitted to watch television because of concerns that it interfered with early brain growth, but this study suggests, that the problem is much farther reaching that that, and has a much more sustaining effect on children through the later years as well. Dr Dimitri Christakis who led the study says, "There are lots of reasons for children not to watch television. Other studies have shown it to be associated with obesity and aggressiveness as well."

The study showed that children, especially young ones, got way too engrossed in the shows, and often became agitated if the shows were turned off. He went on to suggest that because a newborn's brain develops rapidly in the first three years of life, that what information is passed on to them during this vital stage, really programs them, and their patterns for the years to come. He said, if given the wrong stimulus, or the scattered stimuli, that television exposes them to, children will respond quite adversely. Christakis went on to say "We know from studies of newborn rats, that if you expose them to different levels of visual stimuli the architecture of the brain looks very different." This suggests, that the impact television could possibly have on young developing minds, is a powerful one. The researchers, who published these latest findings in the American Journal Of Pediatrics, surveyed parents on their children's viewing habits, followed their television viewing habits, and patterns during the years, and had them rate their behavior again at the age of seven.

The children who had been exposed to more hours of television through the years, were much more prone to having problems with concentration, became easily confused and distracted, and had impulsive and erratic behavior. These same children also had problems with sleeplessness, and restlessness.The children that were allowed to watch three or more hours of television a day were 30 percent more likely to have attention difficulties than those children that had not been allowed to watch television. And to stave off arguments of varying factors, the home life of the children, as well as their parents' mental states, and marital status were taken into consideration as well. This is the first study, among many predecessors, that has actually linked television viewing to ADD, a problem that is plaguing the education system, and increasing in staggering numbers among young children and teens in the United States. As has been evidenced in previous studies, the United States has the highest figures in television viewing, especially in the younger demographic, than that of any other country in the world. Although Dr. Christakis said he believed that the brain effects caused by prolonged exposure to television watching may be permanent, he also believed that children can learn to compensate, and corrective measures should still be taken, at any age of a child's development.

Sorry Barney! I love you, and you love me, but it's just not meant to be!