Children who watch three hours of TV a day could be left educationally stunted

[Jesus Malverde]

Toddlers who watch three hours of TV a day may end up educationally stunted, physically weak and prone to bullying, a study has revealed.

Researchers have found that after two hours of viewing, every extra hour of TV has the potential to harm a child's development, both physically and socially.

This includes poorer vocabulary, maths skills and attention in class, victimisation by classmates and poor physical prowess at nursery.

The study looked at 1,997 boys and girls aged 29 months whose parents reported their television viewing behaviour as part of the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2559336/Children-watch-three-hours-TV-day-left-educationally-stunted-prone-bullying.html

[LiberalArkie]

1. I think I watched more than that as a preschooler.

Of course that was in 1954 and 1955. I started watching in the afternoon when the TV station came on. I think it was Tobor and various scifi shows like that. I think with TV being different back think makes a difference. All the scifi and such made us want to learn science and mathematics. I grew up watching the NBC whitepapers programs. Those were what told me about the race problems, shows on migrant workers, etc. A kid could learn things back then.

[no_hypocrisy]

11. + 1

[HipChick]

2. I watched a heck more than that..

and still managed to get a Phd....I say Poppycock to the study

[bigwillq]

3. probably not (nt)

[Shoulders of Giants]

4. Especially if the television in on Fox News.

[JI7]

5. what if they watch more than 3 hours ? also does it matter what they watch ?

also what if they balance it out with other activity. a lot of times the tv is turned on but little kids are doing other things also like playing games, coloring , playing with toys etc.

[NightWatcher]

6. and if it's Disney Jr, the parents will be ready to jump off the roof after 3 hours as well

[laundry_queen]

9. omg so true, LOL. nt

[B Calm]

7. not if they watched Free Speech TV

[laundry_queen]

8. Hm. It doesn't say which programs the kids were watching

I have no doubt watching too much crappy tv does that. When I was a kid, however, the TV was how I learned to read by age 3 because my mom made sure I was only watching educational programs. The article doesn't mention what type of tv programs the kids are watching.
Still, it's interesting they didn't notice any problems until 2 hrs and 52 min. So UP to that time is okay. So almost 3 hours is okay, but more than that is BAD. I think the headline is a tad misleading. It SHOULD say OVER 3 hours of tv a day....
Still, we are big tv watchers and I only had 1 kid who would actually sit still long enough to watch tv for that many hours a day. Most kids are too busy to actually sit and WATCH...many are playing while the tv is on and that's not the same thing, IMO.

[Jesus Malverde]

10. Ok solved it...

http://www.nature.com/pr/journal/v74/n3/full/pr2013105a.html

Participants are a prospective longitudinal cohort of 991 girls and 1,006 boys from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development with parent-reported data on weekly hours of televiewing at 29 mo of age. We conducted a series of ordinary least-squares regressions in which children’s scores on direct child assessments of vocabulary, mathematical knowledge, and motor skills, as well as kindergarten teacher reports of socioemotional functioning, were linearly regressed on early televiewing.

French Canadians.

Canadian/French TV.

[laundry_queen]

14. Yeah, I did catch that part but it doesn't say

were the kids watching kids programs? Adult news programs? Hockey games? French Barney? Têtes à Claques?

I think that little item left out matters a lot.

[El_Johns]

12. I think it's a statistical artifact of the fact that poor people tend to watch more tv.

[one_voice]

13. only if they're watching...

Fox news.

[hugo_from_TN]

15. 3 hours a day is a lot

About 15-20 percent of their waking hours in front of the tube. Not good.

[Jesus Malverde]

16. That doesn't seem like that much.

Many people have the tube on from the time they get home till bed so 4-5 hours droning is not that unusual

Some people have the tube on during dinner even.

[hugo_from_TN]

17. Yeah, and that seems like way, way, too mucn

Since this scientific study casts a lot of DU'ers in a bad light, I'm sure it will be attacked as bad science. Possibly the study was funded by children's book and puzzle corporations.

[Egalitarian Thug]

18. Child abuse disguised as entertainment. n/t