TV May Rewire Kids's Brains

Arcim Perri blogs this nugget:

For every hour of television watched daily, two groups of children — ages 1 and 3 — faced a 10 percent increased risk of having attention problems at age 7. Unrealistically fast-paced visual images typical of most TV programming may alter normal brain development. “The newborn brain develops very rapidly during the first two to three years of life. It’s really being wired” during that time, Christakis said.

Pretty fascinating when you think about it – that a child’s brain isn’t ‘finished’ when it comes out of the oven. I’ve always read those studies about babies not having physical contact the first few weeks after birth have terrible growth rates – and this compliments that from the mental side. Though we watched a lot of TV growing up – it was mostly PBS. And Nature and Nova are a lot slower paced. And wasn’t there a study arguing this towards the end of life – where nuns that did crossword puzzles had significantly lower rates of Alzheimers. I remember the day my dad said that the brain is a muscle and you have to exercise it all the time.


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2 responses to “TV May Rewire Kids's Brains”

  1. JC Avatar

    I was not allowed to watch very much TV growing up. We adored the “Cosby Show.” I think that is why when I went to college and had cable in my room, I got hooked on 90210 and MTV. It is probably better to have that information flow as an adult because theoritically, I have a better filter for the information. Plus, this “lack of exercise” got balanced with lots of good discussion, reading, and other brain enriching activities.

    COMMENT:
    I was not allowed to watch very much TV growing up. We adored the “Cosby Show.” I think that is why when I went to college and had cable in my room, I got hooked on 90210 and MTV. It is probably better to have that information flow as an adult because theoritically, I have a better filter for the information. Plus, this “lack of exercise” got balanced with lots of good discussion, reading, and other brain enriching activities.

  2. Andy Avatar
    Andy

    I can’t find the article online but Susan Douglas wrote a piece I read once called ‘How to Raise a Media Skeptic’. I like that idea. I want my kids to be aware of the context of the ads their watching. To be cognizant of marketing that stokes our consumerist craving for more more more… to know that most major news broadcasts are owned by companies who’s biggest source of income is defense contracting.

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