Despite frequent warnings that television ‘harms’ children’s health, the number of TV-addicted babies is booming fast in the U.S., which confirms a study by the researchers according to which nearly 90 per cent of the children under age 2 and as many as 40 per cent of the infants under three months, watch television, DVDs and videos on regular basis. What makes these findings more bewildering is the fact that figures looming out of this study are much greater than expected.
It is quite shocking that children in the United States watch four hours of television every day. It stands quite contrary to the recommendation, which prates that children under age 2 should not watch television at all and older children too shouldn’t be allowed to watch television more than 2 hours in a day.
Another shocking thing that came out during this study unveils that a big percentage of parents is nourishing several misperceptions regarding effects of television viewing on their kids. Among these misperceptions quite common were:
• Baby-oriented TV and DVD programs offer educational benefits.
• Their babies watch comparatively less television than other babies.
It seems that somewhere these two factors are also responsible for this much of rise in TV-addition among babies, which is quite a bad indication. Because through many studies it has been proved that excessive TV viewing may give way to several attention and learning related problems. In this regard, a study shows that babies and toddlers parked in front of the TV have a much higher risk of developing ADHD. It is worth mentioning that not only babies but kids as well as adults also meet with several side effects through television. Have a look below:
• Kids, TV Watching, and Obesity
• Children’s TV ‘stigmatizes mental illness’
• Food adverts on TV prompt children to eat more
• Couch Potato Teens at Higher Risk of High Blood Pressure
• Television: A Threat to Your Health
Through these studies, it is quite evident that not only babies but kids and adults too are turned susceptible to several mental as well as physical health problems by excessive television viewing. Therefore, this growing trend of excessive television viewing, which is fast growing into TV addiction, should be checked intently; otherwise, results could be quite horrendous in the coming days, especially for the kids.
Via: Cosmos Magazine
