Some of these could just as easily be blamed on the sofa.
Days after a report revealed British children to be the unhappiest and unhealthiest in the developed world, Dr Sigman suggested it was no coincidence that Britons also watch the most TV in Europe.
‘Watching television, irrespective of the content, is increasingly associated with unfavourable biological and cognitive changes,’ he warned.
It is also said to hamper brain development since TV viewing, unlike reading, fails to provide growing brains with the stimulation needed to foster analytical thinking.
Here’s his list of top 15 harmful effects of television on children:
• Obesity. A result of little exercise.
• Disrupted hormones. Light from televisions suppresses production of the key hormone melatonin.
• Lowered immune system. Reduced melatonin may increase the chance of mutations in cell DNA, which causes cancer.
• Premature puberty. Also linked to low levels of melatonin.
• Sleep disorders. Over-stimulating the senses causes sleeplessness.
• Autism. Linked to a lack of social interaction.
• Increased body fat. Altered levels of the hormones leptin and ghrelin produce fat and boost appetite.
• Poor concentration. Development of brain cells governing attention span is impaired.
• Difficulty reading. A result of poor intellectual stimulation while young.
• Type 2 diabetes – From eating high-calorie food while watching TV.
• Changes to skin immune cells. Waves emitted by sets are linked to changes in skin ‘mast’ cells.
• Increased cholesterol. A result of an inactive childhood.
• Slower metabolism. Watching TV may slow the metabolism more than simply doing nothing
• Shortsightedness. Staring at a screen can lead to eye damage.
• Alzheimer’s Disease. Heavy viewing linked to increased risk.
Sounds like a laundry list of loose associations at best. (Are we in fact to blame TV for overeating while watching, for example??) I surely wouldn’t mind to curb TV viewing among the general population, but do reports like this do more harm than good?
These effects go away if you consider:
1) You don’t HAVE to eat junk food while watching TV
2) You don’t HAVE to watch mindless junk TV – there are plenty of engaging shows for kids and adults.
3) You can do other things while watching TV. When my kids are in front of the TV, they are usually playing games or doing homework while barely paying attention to the TV.
The idea that kids watch so much TV might be true on average, but I don’t see it in my community – my kids and the dozens I know through them rarely watch TV at all – they play during the day (hockey, football,…) and do homework in the evening.
It may also cause depression – too many bad news as if they’re the only ones worth knowing about.
Does stupidity count as a disease? It should. Too much soccer, too many soap operas, reality shows.
I stopped watching TV a few years ago. Now all I watch is DVDs and shows downloaded from the net – legally, of course! I find that watching a DVD or a recorded show affords you one of the advantages of reading – you can stop once in a while to wonder about what you’ve just read/seen.
OK, maybe Tivo allows that too, but we don’t have Tivo here in Portugal.
TV is your personal hypnotist. Extremely personal. People have televisions in their bedrooms and even bathrooms!
When people watch television it is like the brain being directly connected out of one’s body and into a set that will program the human mind into misery. Only by misery will subjects reach out to buy products.
In a way, people today are just human bodies with television heads. (Can someone photoshop that, BTW).
I watch a lot of TV to keep up on the latest research into finding a cure for Alzheimer’s.
Ah, the irony of it all…..
What’s with all these questionable, junk science stories all of a sudden? Just about all of those points can be shot down very easily. Which peer-reviewed journal published in? I’d like to read it.
Also scary, I’m agreeing with pedro. The world is upside-down!
7. Good one Pedro how about this….
“Reading Dvorak Uncensored wil eventually lead to certain death!”
#8 – you’re right! I stopped reading Dvorak Uncensored and continued to live. But here I am again…..I’d rather die than give it up.
How about “Reading reports by idiots who confused association with cause-and-effect raises stress and causes heart attacks and strokes.”
I’m about to go watch some TV. Keith O is due on in a couple of minutes.
Though this reminds me of how masturbating causes blindness. So I only did it until I needed glasses.
The whole problem is the Brits and their rather idiotic usage of “ou” when “o” will do.
That would brain damage anyone.
#13, I agree. They should have let the Americans invent English.
its really addictive, even the brain damaging is increased