Re: New Age Kids

Wired from watching TV, then drugged before the brain is developed.

No wonder we have such a mess. Kids killing play mates at age eleven.

http://www.bocaratonnews.com/index.php?src=news&category=LOCAL%20NEWS&prid=7963

Study links TV and ADHD tendencies in young kids

Published Saturday, April 10, 2004
by Ashley Harrell

He might be loveable, but Barney the purple dinosaur may also ruin little
Susie’s chances at Harvard, according to a recent study linking early TV
watching with attention deficit later in childhood.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics,
measured the television consumption of 2,500 children age 3 and under, and then
checked up on their attention abilities at age 7. Seattle researchers found
that for every hour of TV watched per day, a child is 9 percent more likely to
have attention problems.
Although no information was given about the specific programs the children were
watching, lead author Dimitri A. Christakis hypothesized that the content
isn’t what matters.
Christakis, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center
in Seattle, said it’s the camera angle swapping and the scene changing that
may be able to rewire young children’s brains.
They become accustomed to a change of scene or angle every five seconds, and
normal life will inevitably fail to provide that kind of stimulation, according
to Christakis, who said that early television might even change the way neurons
fire in the brain.
“Our findings suggest that preventive action can be taken with respect to
attentional problems in children,” he wrote. “Limiting young children’s
exposure to television as a medium during formative years of brain
development…may reduce children’s subsequent risk of developing Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Our results have some important implications if
replicated in future studies.”
Local child psychologist Dr. Donna Holland said she is in agreement that
Christakis’s findings call for more studies.
Although health professionals have been quick to define the study as
preliminary, many also say that ADHD-related effects from early television
watching are certainly plausible.
“I don’t know that the TV causes ADHD, but the TV is the opposite of what
they need,” said Holland. “The problem is that these kids refocus quickly
on new stimuli, and the television reinforces that behavior.”
Although the American Academy of Pediatrics has long recommended that children
not be exposed to television before age 2, The Kaiser Family Foundation
documented that 99 percent of children in America live in a home with at least
one TV set. Half live in a home with three or more, and more than one-third of
children six years old and younger have a set in their own bedroom, according
to a survey taken by the foundation. Children age 6 and under spend an average
of two hours a day in front of the screen and only 39 minutes being read to,
and according to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s 2003 report “Zero to Six:
Electronic Media in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers,” 56
percent of children in non-heavy TV homes can read by the age of 6, compared to
only 34 percent of children in heavy TV homes.
“TV has definitely been an issue in my house recently,” said Boca Raton
mother of two, Robin Ireland. “Generally speaking, they’re allowed to watch
an hour a day, but my husband wants to get rid of the television all together.
As a parent, you always want to do everything right.”
Boca mom of four, Shannon Morris, said she doesn’t want to ban television all
together because “they always want to do what they can’t do.”
Television, when used properly, can offer valuable learning experiences and is
sometimes even a bonding experience, according to Morris. She admits that her
home has quite a few television sets, but said she takes the kids out to the
library and other activities as often as she can.
“But I do try to limit their T.V. time, and it should never be used as a
babysitter,” she said.
Using the television as a babysitter is exactly the kind of variable that has
clinical psychologists asking for more data.
Perhaps the parents of the kids watching the most television have ADHD
themselves, which could suggest a genetic link, according to Harvey C. Parker,
a South Florida clinical psychologist. There could be any number of other
explanations, according to Parker, who said additional testing to rule out
confounding variables is necessary.
“Just because two things may occur together doesn’t mean one causes the
other,” said Parker. “This is something that needs to be tested again and
again.”
Parker, an ADHD specialist, will be giving a talk in Boca Raton entitled
“Current Strategies to Manage ADHD and Related Disorders” on April 22, 8:30
a.m. until 4:30 p.m. For more information call (954)723-0057.