Too Much Television is Harmful to Kids’ Minds
Programmed to underachieve and overeat
Too much of a bad thing, part 2
In the last Daily Dose, I broached the subject of how too much television is harmful to kids’ minds. But inasmuch as eliminating a kid’s exposure to TV isn’t practical (or even really possible), this raised an interesting question: How much is TOO MUCH?
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, children aged 2 and younger shouldn’t be exposed to ANY television, and not more than two hours daily after that. How does this stack up to the reality? Consider these facts from the 2001 edition of the Sourcebook for Teaching Science:
- In the average American household, the TV is on for 6 hours, 47 minutes every day.
- The number of minutes the average child spends watching television per week is 1,680 (28 hours, or 4 hours a day). That’s almost 500 times as much as
- The average amount of time kids spend in meaningful conversation with their parents: Just 3.5 minutes PER WEEK.
- Kids spend 1,500 hours a year watching TV, but only 900 hours a year in school.
These are just the raw facts. Besides, everyone already knows American children (and adults, for that matter) watch too much TV. But what does this really mean for kids’ quality of life? Consider these “icing-on-the-cake” factoids:
- The average child sees 20,000 TV commercials a year, the bulk of them for fast food restaurants or snack food products. One 1991 study revealed that the typical four hours of Saturday morning cartoons contain an average of 200 junk food ads.
- From the 1960s to today, obesity among children 6-17 has almost tripled. The biggest reason is surely TV: it makes kids both inactive AND crave a high-sugar diet.
- Cases of eating disorders among girls have ballooned in the last 20 years. Why? Perhaps the fact that actresses on TV are thinner than 95% of real women.
- 54% of 4-6 year-olds surveyed said they preferred watching TV to spending time with their fathers.
And how’s this for a kicker: 59% of Americans can name the Three Stooges, yet only 17% can name 3 of the 9 (currently 8, since O’Connor stepped down) Supreme Court Justices! Beyond this, millions of Americans are so addicted to TV that they easily fit the accepted criteria for “substance abuse” as defined by official psychiatric literature.
Bottom line: Anytime you can get a child to do ANYTHING besides watch TV or play video games, you’re doing them a favor – even if they’d much prefer to be vegetating in front of the tube. If you have to, force them to get up and go play sports or ride their bikes, or (torture of tortures) read a book
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Want fries with your disorder?
It has been postulated before that they’re putting addictive chemicals in fast food. I didn’t believe it, but now I’m not so sure. Here’s why:
Earlier this year, a Pennsylvania man became so enraged when his local Burger King restaurant ran out of French fries that he flipped out and ended up in jail. According to the Associated Press, the man became so irate when the drive-thru clerk informed him of the shortage that he parked his truck and entered the restaurant to cuss out the staff. But that’s not all
After saying his peace (but obviously not making it), he gunned his truck and nearly ran over one of the Burger King staffers who followed him outside to take down his license number! As if that weren’t enough of a reaction, he then scuffled with police and kicked out the rear window of the squad car after being pulled over a short distance from the restaurant. Needless to say, the man ended up in the klink to cool off and figure out how he was going to raise $2,500 bail after being charged with assault, reckless endangerment and other crimes.
Talk about going off the deep fried deep end!
Never craving, but sometimes raving,
William Campbell Douglass II, MD
