Is TV Harming Your Child’s Brain?

By Joan Goodchild

5/24/10

You’ve navigated the tough first decisions that come with having a child (cloth or disposable diapers? Breastfeeding or bottle?). But before you know it, your little sweetie has grown up a bit and suddenly needs more stimulation than just hanging out in the Pack ‘n Play while mom gets some work done.


That leads to a new, and equally controversial, decision: Will I allow my child to watch television? And if so, what can she watch?

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children view no more than two hours of television a day. And the AAP says there should be no television exposure at all before the age of 2. I’m the first to admit I’ve broken those rules with both of my children.


For better or worse, my kids watch television almost every day; sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. On cold, snowy, trapped-indoors days, I find myself using the TV as an easy escape, and it leaves me feeling more than a little guilty.

But just how bad should I feel? Two studies out this month examine the effects television watching has on children, and offer differing results about TV’s impact. The first, conducted by Linda Pagani, a professor of psycho-education at the Université de Montreal and a researcher at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center in Montreal, finds television watching at age 2 1/2 boosts a child's risk of having multiple school and health problems later in life.


Pagani gathered data on 1,314 children and found those who watched excessive TV at 29 months were more likely to be less productive in class by fourth grade, as rated by their teachers. TV-viewing kids were also more likely to lag in mathematics performance and have a higher Body Mass Index.

But a second study, this one conducted by researchers at the University of Oklahoma, claims there is no direct connection between TV viewing and cognitive effects. The research looked at the behavior of 3,351 kids aged 5 to 10 during the 1990s and 2000s and found the impacts of TV viewing were negative only among children in households where parents were not likely to engage the child or support them educationally.


In other words, kids in households where parents were more likely to help with homework, read books and generally engage their children watched TV without any negative impact on their educational performance. The researchers noted that family structure and household income were much more important indicators of future success than television viewing time.

What do you think? Is TV the demon in the den? Or does a little Sesame Street and Curious George help you get through the day?