Kaiser Family Foundation
- The relationship between children’s television use and other activities varies as a function of the content of the program. Entertainment television viewing was related to fewer educational activities and less social interaction. There was no relationship between educational television and any of these activities (Huston, Wright, Marquis & Green, 1999).
- Viewing frightening television, even programming deemed appropriate for preschoolers, raised children’s heart rates and caused symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In a survey study of 116 parents of three- to fi ve-year-olds, 40% of parents reported at least one symptom of PTSD that occurred after a child viewed a scary event on television and that lasted at least a month. Sleep diffi culties were one of the most common symptoms (Crum, 1994; Groer & Howell, 1990)
- For a study of physical activity, the behaviors of 191 three- to four-year-olds were directly observed for up to four days a year for four years. Researchers found that the more time children spent watching television, the less likely they were to engage in physical activity. Television viewing, however, was not related to measures of children’s obesity (DuRant, Baranowski, Johnson & Thompson, 1994)
Aric Sigman - Health Education Lecturer
- Autism is a complex disorder, thought to have a genetic basis which may be activated by other things. A study at Cornell University now suggests that early childhood screen viewing may be such a trigger for autism. (Waldman et al 2006, 2008)
- Another study published in the American Medical Association journal Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine found an association between daily screen time (ST) (i.e. television/DVD/video and computer use) in mid-adolescence and risk factors for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Analysing blood samples in adolescent boys revealed that those boys with ST of 2 or more hours per day on weekdays have twice the risk of abnormal levels of insulin and HOMA-Insulin Resistance compared with boys with ST of less than 2 hours per day on weekdays indicating a greater risk for developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. (Hardy et al 2010)
- The age at which children start viewing screens and the number of hours watched per day are increasingly linked to negative physiological changes and medical consequences. There appears to be a ‘dose-response relationship’ with more hours per day linked to greater likelihood that negative effects will appear, often years later, in the child.
- A study of 2068 children found that television viewing among infants and toddlers was associated with irregular sleep patterns. The number of hours of television watched per day was independently associated with both irregular naptime schedule and irregular bedtime schedules. (Thompson and Christakis 2005)
- Another study of 5-6 year olds found that both active TV viewing and background ‘passive’ TV exposure was related to shorter sleep duration, sleeping disorders, and overall sleep disturbances. Moreover, passive exposure to TV of more than two hours per day was strongly related to sleep disturbances. TV viewing and particularly passive TV exposure “significantly increase the risk of sleeping difficulties ... parents should control the quantity of TV viewing and … limit children’s exposure to passive TV.” (Paavonen et al, 2006)
If usage is continued
- Mental Health
- Autism
- Based on a reseach from Cornell University, screen viewing is an important trigger for autism in children under 3 years of age. Being in front of a screen for a long period time leads to lack of social interation, which make children more prone to autism.
- ADHD
- In August 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued guidelines recommending that children under the age of two to not watch tv or any screen entertainment at all because tv ‘can have a negative effect on early brain development’
About five per cent of children have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Children who watch tv at ages one to three have a higher risk of developing such attentional problems by the time they are seven.
Symptoms include short attention span, poor concentration, and being easily distracted.