Excessive exposure of children to television and videos could hamper a childs mental development and increase the risk of obesity.
Excessive exposure of children to television and videos could hamper a child's mental development and increase the risk of obesity. According to guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics, children's TV time should be limited to no more than one or two hours a day of quality programming, and TV sets should be kept out of their bedrooms.
Limiting the amount of TV children watch when very young may help reduce the amount of time they spend on media as they get older. Right now, the average school-age American child spends 4.5 hours watching television each day and 7.5 hours using media overall.
Past studies have shown that TV viewing at 2 years of age and younger can have negative impacts on learning, language and attention and it's also linked to childhood obesity. To determine the risk of excessive viewing time among children aged 2 years, researchers analysed the data of year 2006 and 2007 in Oregon. Data was collected about the TV viewing hours by interviewing the mothers.
It was found that 20 percent of the children watched more than the recommended two hours of television a day. Several factors were associated with the amount of TV these children watched. Children who had a TV placed in their room were more likely to watch a lot of TV (about 34 percent) than children without a TV in the room (16 percent). Being kept at home throughout the day was also an important factor. Almost 23 percent of the children who went on fewer than four outings a week watched at least two hours of TV a day, compared with 15 percent of the children who went on frequent outings. Moreover, children who spent time in a child care centre were less likely to watch a lot of TV (8 percent) than children who didn't (23 percent) or children who had other types of child care (19 percent).
The more children are spoken to, the better their language development. When children are engaged in television viewing, they are not being spoken to by adults. Cognitive development is linked to speech development, so children who don't learn to speak well are the children who will not reach their cognitive potential. And there's a potential physical cost of too much media in childhood - obesity, due in part to the physical inactivity and the kind of foods children see advertised.
This is a warning signal to all parents to turn off the TV and spend more time with their children, and also to get them physically active as well.
Limiting the amount of TV children watch when very young may help reduce the amount of time they spend on media as they get older. Right now, the average school-age American child spends 4.5 hours watching television each day and 7.5 hours using media overall.
Past studies have shown that TV viewing at 2 years of age and younger can have negative impacts on learning, language and attention and it's also linked to childhood obesity. To determine the risk of excessive viewing time among children aged 2 years, researchers analysed the data of year 2006 and 2007 in Oregon. Data was collected about the TV viewing hours by interviewing the mothers.
It was found that 20 percent of the children watched more than the recommended two hours of television a day. Several factors were associated with the amount of TV these children watched. Children who had a TV placed in their room were more likely to watch a lot of TV (about 34 percent) than children without a TV in the room (16 percent). Being kept at home throughout the day was also an important factor. Almost 23 percent of the children who went on fewer than four outings a week watched at least two hours of TV a day, compared with 15 percent of the children who went on frequent outings. Moreover, children who spent time in a child care centre were less likely to watch a lot of TV (8 percent) than children who didn't (23 percent) or children who had other types of child care (19 percent).
The more children are spoken to, the better their language development. When children are engaged in television viewing, they are not being spoken to by adults. Cognitive development is linked to speech development, so children who don't learn to speak well are the children who will not reach their cognitive potential. And there's a potential physical cost of too much media in childhood - obesity, due in part to the physical inactivity and the kind of foods children see advertised.
This is a warning signal to all parents to turn off the TV and spend more time with their children, and also to get them physically active as well.
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