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Stop the Presses: New Study Shows Too Much TV Is Bad for Children

May 4, 2010  •  Post A Comment

The latest study by the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine show that children who watch too much television are adversely affected, reports CNN.com.

The study reports that for each additional hour a toddler spends watching television during the week results in problems in school, poor scores in math and arithmetic, less physical activity and overeating of snacks by the age of 10.

According to Linda Pagani, Ph.D., a professor in the School of Psychoeducation at the University of Montreal, in Quebec, children need to get off the couch.

"Kids should be doing things that are intellectually enriching: playing with board games, playing with dice, playing with things that will improve their motor skills, reading." Dr. Pagani was the lead author of the study. The test was conducted over seven years and studied 1300 children.

One Comment

  1. Thanks to B&C for headlining this piece with the tongue in cheek it deserves. Newspapers quite literally worldwide have been headlining the story with bald, dire warnings.
    The study is flawed in many respects, and is in direct conflict with another Canadian study from last week that said it’s not TV, but parental engagement. Guess which got reported more widely…
    Mostly, the researcher’s conclusion, that “kids should be doing things that are intellectually enriching” is a huge “DUH” but not mutually exclusive with spending limited time with carefully-chosen TV. There’s room in kids’ lives for a variety of activities. Moreover, if the researchers were interested in “intellectually enriching” activities, why did they not consider content instead of just time?

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