UW Researchers report infants' TV addiction

Parents concerned over their children’s TV addiction should get alert as a University of Washington study has suggested that an alarming number of infants and toddlers are being turned into “screen time” junkies as well.

To reach their findings, the US researchers conducted random telephone surveys of more than 1000 families with young children, aged 2 to 24 months, in Minnesota and Washington.

US researchers, who reported their findings Monday in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, found that 40 percent of three-month-olds and about 90 per cent of kids aged two years or younger regularly watch television, DVDs or videos.

The study found that the infants and toddlers were spending up to one-and-a-half hours a day viewing television shows or DVDs.

"We're in the midst of a large, national, uncontrolled experiment on the next generation,'' said Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a pediatrician at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle and a researcher at the University of Washington. "What the effects of that will be _ good or bad _ we don't know yet.''

Dr. Christakis says the best available evidence suggests that watching a lot of TV in an early age is in fact harmful in terms of cognitive development and ability to pay attention later in life.

According to Frederick Zimmerman, lead author of the study who is an economist and works for the university as a researcher in health sciences, parents believe the marketers of baby videos and TV programs and are ignoring warnings from the American Academy of Pediatrics that very young children should not watch any TV.

Dr. Christakis who says many of the children watch what parents consider educational TV said research hasn't determined the value of TV for infants, even if the content is educational.

The study from University of Washington is unique among studies on TV watching by children because it focuses on the first two years of life and questions parents why they put their children in front of the TV. It also is the first study to focus on what is being watched by the kids.

Shattering the common perception that parents use TV as an electronic baby sitter, the study said instead that the main reason babies watch TV and videos is because their parents think it is good for them, Christakis said.

Twenty nine percent of parents surveyed by Zimmerman and colleagues told the researchers they allowed their children to spend this time in front of the TV because they thought it was good for the child's brain, while 23 percent responded the kids found it enjoyable or relaxing and 21 percent said they use it as a baby sitter.

It is widely known that that long hours spent by children in front of the TV negatively affect kids' in many ways. The habit affects their school performances, eating habits and overall health. Parents put their children in front of the TV to watch videos that are supposed to make them smarter, and instead of read and sing and play with their children they choose TV, videos and DVDs for them in the belief that this screen time is good for them.

Some specific TV programs and infant-aimed videos such as "Baby Einstein" and "Brainy Baby" are marketed as being advantageous for the developing child, Christakis said.

In another study published in the same issue of the journal the researchers studied 678 families in New York State over more than 20 years. The research, led by Jeffrey G. Johnson of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, suggests that teenagers who spent three to four hours in front of TV tend to be more likely to have attention and learning problems that persist and interfere with their long-term educational achievement.

After interviewing parents and children about television habits and school problems, Johnson and his colleagues found that "Kids who watched less than one hour of TV per day were twice as likely to go to college as those who watched three or more hours per day."

Johnson concluded he believes TV may be shortening teenagers' attention spans, and gradually it could really dumb down society.