Is Technology Harming our Children???

I have been reading lately about the many risks of children watching TV. How can this be you ask? TVs are safe these days, not like the old days when they gave off a small amount of radiation so how can the idiot box be harmful? Well, according to a recent study done in the US as little as 1 hour of TV for those children aged 1-3 can have harmful effects.

This most recent study found that 1-year-olds and 3-year-olds who watched just one hour of television daily had a 10 percent greater risk of attention problems by the age of 7 than children who watched no television at all. And the more television watched, the greater the risk. One year olds who watched three to four hours of television had a 30 percent to 40 percent increased risk of attention problems compared to children whose parents kept the TV off. How can this be?

Previous studies cited detrimental aftereffects of excessive television viewing, including violent behavior and obesity. Now add to that attention problems. This recently published study of 1 year olds and 3 year olds demonstrated that it wasn't the content of the programming that was causing attention span problems rather it was the unrealistically fast paced images on the screen. Those images, the researchers suggested, may alter normal brain development in very young children. Apparently the television has lasting negative effects on the developing brain and may actually permanently "rewire" youngsters’ brains with all the fast paced imagery. They went on to say that children 2 years of age and younger should not be allowed to watch any TV. Their brains aren't developed enough to handle what they are seeing.

So what can we do about this? First of all parents need to stop using the television as a babysitter. Up until the last 10 years or so most families only had the 1 or 2 TVs in the house along with the stereo and possibly a VCR and those were in the livingroom or family room. Recent studies have shown that 26% of parents are putting TVs, VCRs and DVD players right into their children's bedroom. This is not acceptable. How are children's brains supposed to develop when all they do is watch TV? The children should be allowed to free play to stimulate their brains, they should be read to in order to enhance their imagination. These are the things that we were allowed to do as children. Many children now are just plunked down in front of the TV. This is all that many children know. How are they supposed to develop properly?

ADD or ADHD are attention problems that have increased astronomically in the past 15 years amongst school age children. Much of this is probably due to the increase in television watching of toddlers. Many children are being prescribed Ritalin and other drugs to help control these problems. You know we look at mothers who drink while they are pregnant and whose children are born with FAE or FAS as irresponsible mothers. Same with mothers who do drugs while pregnant or parents who do drugs around their children. This even borders on criminal at least in my mind. So why are these things bad when they affect the mental growth of our children yet it is fine for us to damage our childrens brains and let them watch endless hours of television? Is society that 2 faced or do we not understand the damage we are doing? Dammit people, these children are the future of our society and if we continue to damage their brains how is our society going to succeed?

It is high time that we turn off the idiot box for our children and spend quality time with them. Instead of turning on the tube when we get home from work, talk to your children as you make supper or do the dishes or whatever. Read stories in the evenings instead of watching that television show. Instead of buying that DVD player or TV for the kids bedroom, buy them books to read or imagination stimulation toys such as Lego to build those brains. Any toy or book that allows the imagination to do its' thing within the child's brain will benefit them more than you know. And spend some time talking and asking about their play. Get to know what they like to pretend, even get involved with it and play pretend with them. Also, since most families have both parents working, do your research when chosing a daycare. Make sure that they are stimulating your child too, you don't want to take them to a place that is just going to plop them in front of the TV either. These are your choices...let's make the right one's for our children.

Let me know what you think about this. I am always interested in the views of others. Leave a comment at EclecticBlogs.