Many parents use popular videos such as Baby Einstein to entertain their young children while they can have a few minutes’ peace during the day. Parents consider these videos to be helpful tools with their children, but have they ever considered the negative affects of watching these videos or even watching television altogether? Many researchers are now doing studies on television linked to kids developing attention problems such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD. ADHD is a disorder in which children or adults are unable to focus their attention on things and are extremely hyperactive. ADHD can be distinguished by five symptoms. These symptoms are: difficulty concentrating, easily confused, impulsive, trouble with obsessions, and restlessness.

ADHD is known to affect 12% of school children. This number has drastically increased during the past 50 years. The invention of the television brought the first big increase. The second measurable increase occurred during the 1980’s when the VCR also became very popular. This increasingly common disorder results in children having difficulties in school. ADHD is thought to be genetic, but recent research has determined that environmental factors play a role in children developing this condition. These environmental factors include poor nutrition and television.

How is television believed to cause this problem? First, television is very fast-paced. When comparing television to real life, it moves at a much faster pace, especially during commercials. It is believed that children possibly become used to these fast-paced images and when they try to do other activities, such as read a book, these other activities are too slow and boring. Also, when young children watch television, it may over stimulate their brain. Over stimulating a child’s brain can cause changes in the development of neural pathways. This may cause these neural pathways to not develop, as they should. It is also thought that visual and auditory experiences, depending on the intensity and type of experience, can strongly influence a child’s brain development.

The Academy of American Pediatrics advises that children younger than the age of two should not watch television at all. They further recommend that kids older than two should watch no more than two hours of television, and that the television shows they do watch should be “high-quality programming.” (Short attention span linked to TV)

The American Academy of Pediatrics recently did a study on television contributing to kids developing ADHD. This test was done with children ages one to three, before young children even develop ADHD, which is normally around age seven. The study was led by Dr. Dimitri A. Christakis and found that children who frequently watched television often scored in the highest 10% for attention problems. This does not necessarily mean that they have or will develop ADHD, but many were found to have it. An increase of 10% is added to the chances of children having attention problems for every hour of television they watch. Another alarming fact found from this study was that the highest amount of time a child spent watching television per day reported by some of the parents was 16 hours. The average was 2.2 hours for one-year olds and 3.6 for thee-year olds. Therefore, the children who watched the most television were the most likely to have or develop attention problems, whereas the children who watched minimal or no television at all did not have these problems. The conclusion of this study was that exposing young children to television was linked to attention problems around age seven.

Previously, I thought of videos such as Baby Einstein as useful tools to help infants learn, but now my opinion has changed. Studies have shown that even educational videos for infants can lead to children developing ADHD. A study that contained over 2,000 children reported results of infants who watched three hours of television designed for infants would have a 30% higher chance of developing an attention problem. This statistic is overwhelming considering that many parents rely on these videos as educational tools for their children. This means that many children watch television on a daily basis, even though it is recommended that they do not, because parents do not realize the risks that are involved.

Of course we all know that television has been blamed for many other things too. These include violence, aggression, obesity, and more. Some feel that we are simply blaming television for our problems instead of accepting them. Could it be that parents are looking for a reason that their child is not perfect and they need somewhere to place the blame? Those that oppose the idea that television is negatively affecting today’s children would agree with this thinking. They feel that people are simply overreacting to their problems. ADHD is thought to be genetic; many people feel that environmental factors play no contributing role to its development. Research has shown that children with ADHD often have a close relative that also has ADHD.

Although it may not be a clearly proven fact, we can surely see that there is a link between early television watching and the development of ADHD. In studies comparing television watching to the development of ADHD, the more television young children watched, the more likely they were to develop ADHD. We may not be able to understand exactly how or why this happens, but we can understand that these two things are related. People may feel that only genetics cause ADHD and that television play no part, but I would have to disagree with them. Many parents use television as the easy way out to give them a break from their parental responsibilities. They use videos and TV shows to entertain their children while they rest or do things around the house. Even if we do not completely understand how television affects children, we should not put them at risk. We must realize the -affects effects that television can have on young children and do our best to entertain them without simply having children watch a movie.

Sources

"It's official: tv linked to attention deficit." http://www.whitedot.org/issue/iss_story.asp?slug=ADHD%20Toddlers

"Short attention span linked to TV." http://www.usatoday.com/new/nation/2004-04-05-tv-bottomstrip_x.htm