Stupid Parents Make Infants Watch Tv

[ShahLatif]

May 7, 2007 - Ella Sirl can't tie her shoes. And most of her breakfast still winds up in her hair as she tries to spoon some oatmeal into her mouth. But the little 2-year-old from Cleveland has some definite opinions about TV. Ella has been watching the tube since infancy. She loves “Dora the Explorer” and is fascinated by the shapes and colors she sees on her “Baby Einstein” DVDs. And she's even developed a tiny-tot crush on the iconic Captain Kirk, cooing at the screen as she watches “Star Trek” re-runs with her dad, Rick.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18538497/site/newsweek/

Edited May 9, 2007 by ShahLatif

[Sehnsucht]

Wow... That's fairly disturbing...

But this topic brings to mind an interesting realization I had lately...

The channel BabyFirst TV is one of my favorite channels ever, no humor or sarcasm intended at all. They have 24-hour-programming geared toward the youngest infants and toddlers, and the stuff on there is like ethereally mind-blowing... At the end of each night, they have these hour-long lullaby specials where they flash these mesmerizing kaleidoscope pictures and play soft lullabies in the background... It's like visual meditation; simply incredible and deeply relaxing. :wub:

Here's their site: http://www.babyfirsttv.com/index.asp

[southlebanon]

Television rots the mind, but like most things I guess it has its good and bad. Using TV for educational purposes, like with the Baby Einstein DVDs, can be pretty influential, especially in learning new languages since children catch on quickly at that age. That can also become a disadvantage, though. Watching too much TV bad or good, may become a habit which might be difficult to get rid of when they grow older. But they really should not be watching any of those adult shows! School already has enough bad influence, they don't need extra hours of TV!

[Guest Mahreen]

TV is a good way to spread propaganda

[Renaissance_Man]

There is a real danger in putting infants in front of the TV. Their brains are not developed enough to process the sensory images and a recent study that shows that for this reason children who watch a lot of TV before the age of 3 are more prone to developing autism.

Edited May 8, 2007 by Talib-e-Ilm

[ShahLatif]

^may be autistic kids will make good future consumers :)

[Path2Felicity]

There is a real danger in putting infants in front of the TV. Their brains are not developed enough to process the sensory images and a recent study that shows that for this reason children who watch a lot of TV before the age of 3 are more prone to developing autism.

TV also contributes to high incidences of ADD and ADHD among children.

Wasalaam

[Batool]

There is a real danger in putting infants in front of the TV. Their brains are not developed enough to process the sensory images and a recent study that shows that for this reason children who watch a lot of TV before the age of 3 are more prone to developing autism.

^

thats the first time I've ever heard that, do you know where I can get hold of such studies that make this connection?

salaam

[ShahLatif]

^

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/17/0435250

http://www.slate.com/id/2149002/

The child's brain is self-organizing in the first few years of life, and visual stimuli have much to do with how it organizes. Humans evolved while responding to three-dimensional visual stimuli. The advent of ubiquitous TV for young kids amounts to an unplanned experiment that exposes developing brains to tremendous doses of colorful, moving, two-dimensional visual stimuli. Coincident with this experiment, there has been a sharp rise in the number of children who, through autism, lose their ability to relate to the three-dimensional, normal world.

Edited May 8, 2007 by ShahLatif

[Batool]

(salam)

^ thankyou, I see where the authors of this study are coming from but I feel that their hypothesis that autsim is more prevalent in areas of high subscription to cable tv is not really proof of a definite correlation. The problem with autism 'rates' is that many times people and in particular children with autism are misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all. Is it possible that the areas of low subscription to cable are generally poorer states than those where the subscrition is high and therefore poverty can be an explanation for undiagnosed cases (because of little or no contact with specialist doctors).?

I'm finding this difficult to beleive but can see how its easily beleived because autistic children can be 'drawn' to television ( even the non cable channels!). I personally don't think this study has been thorough enough. Families would need to give the exact amount of television hours viewed to be able to get a more realistic picture.

A connection between watching too much televsion and learning difficulties, ADD and ADHD seem more plausible but even there I would think that TV might exasberate the symptoms ( perhaps even for autistic children) rather than be the cause of the condition. I'm not an expert but I do belive that unless a study can prove a connection between one thing and the cause of a condition such as those mentioned, it can be dangerous to just assume that it is right.

waslaam

Edited May 8, 2007 by Ishq-e-Batool

[Hasnain]

^It's not a cause-effect study, as is the case with most studies.

[Path2Felicity]

A connection between watching too much televsion and learning difficulties, ADD and ADHD seem more plausible but even there I would think that TV might exasberate the symptoms ( perhaps even for autistic children) rather than be the cause of the condition. I'm not an expert but I do belive that unless a study can prove a connection between one thing and the cause of a condition such as those mentioned, it can be dangerous to just assume that it is right.

True, that.

Which is why I said, it contributes, rather than causes :)

[ShahLatif]

a related report (not specifically for toddlers but relevant nevertheless)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070508/hl_nm/...KxchyFi6yzMWM0F

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The more TV adolescents watch, the more likely they are to develop attention and learning problems, and to do poorly in school in the long-run, a new study confirms.

The findings "suggest that by encouraging youths to spend less than 3 hours per day watching television, parents, teachers and health care professionals may be able to help reduce the likelihood that at-risk adolescents will develop persistent attention and learning difficulties," Dr. Jeffrey G. Johnson of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City and colleagues write.

Edited May 9, 2007 by ShahLatif

[Path2Felicity]

a related report (not specifically for toddlers but relevant nevertheless)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070508/hl_nm/...KxchyFi6yzMWM0F

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The more TV adolescents watch, the more likely they are to develop attention and learning problems, and to do poorly in school in the long-run, a new study confirms.

The findings "suggest that by encouraging youths to spend less than 3 hours per day watching television, parents, teachers and health care professionals may be able to help reduce the likelihood that at-risk adolescents will develop persistent attention and learning difficulties," Dr. Jeffrey G. Johnson of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City and colleagues write.

This means I'm a genius, no?

^_^

[Nazeema]

(salam)

from my understanding Tv is BAD for infants.

from the time a baby enters this world he continues 2 develop. all the small movements and even the sucking from the mothers breast is development.

so when an infant begins 2 crawl and walk he is not only developing his muscles or strength but also learning co-ordination, brain stimulation, etc

do u knw a child learns more by touching and tasting things than by being carried around al over. therefore sitting and watchin TV plays no role in stimulation.

rather let ur kids help u stir a bowl of porridge 2 aid co-ordination and control.

let them sought out food and veg 2 allow them 2 distinguish betw like items.

let them fold washing with u and even pair up socks and distinguish between different sizes of clothes.

not only will this help them develop but it will allow u 2 communicate and interact with ur child and build a trust relationship.

TV does not help in teaching kids language skills because ther is no communication or dialogue takin place between child and TV.

ADD and ADHD is a problem that comes from parents not being there to teach there kids bec we have become slaves to the modern imperialist lifestyle.

[Mohsin]

My little nephew and niece watch cartoon TV channels all the time :mellow: They even enjoy watching National Geographic and Animal Planet.

I don't see how it is negative. Technology is going to play a big part in their life when they grow up, so why not introduce them to it now? Especially when you let them watch something which is educative or even entertaining for them.

Especially for moms, when your child is busy watching his favorite TV show and not whining as usual, you can utilize your newly-earned free time in other useful ways :P

[yesI'moriginallyamerican]

Dora Rocks

peace