A sobering report from the National Institutes of Health and Yale University links media consumption with a laundry list of childhood problems, including obesity; drug, alcohol and tobacco use; early sexuality and low academic achievement.
The review of nearly 200 research efforts spanning 30 years examined how television, music, movies and other media affect the lives of children and adolescents. It found ”strong connections” between media exposure and problems of childhood obesity, tobacco use and early sexual behavior. About 80 percent of the studies showed a link between a negative health outcome and media hours or content, the Washington Post reports.
The average modern child spends nearly 45 hours a week with television, movies, magazines, music, the Internet, cellphones and video games, the study reported. By comparison, children spend 17 hours a week with their parents on average and 30 hours a week in school, the study said.
“Our kids are sponges, and we really need to remember they learn from their environment,” Cary P. Gross, a Yale professor tells the Post, noting that researchers found it notable how much content mattered; it was not only the sheer number of hours of screen time. Children “pick up character traits and behaviors” from those they watch or hear, he said.
A show of hands, please. Anyone surprised? Yeah, me neither.
I’m not surprised either. What I’m wondering is what effect overconsumption has on adults?
Comment by Rakisha — December 2, 2008 @ 2:03 pm
I can think of two effects: the first is a dramatically reduced attention span. The second is…um…sorry, can you repeat the question?
Comment by Robert Pondiscio — December 2, 2008 @ 3:44 pm
Did anyone doubt a “strong connection”? Would anyone question a correlation?
Wake me up when some researchers spend some effort putting together an experiment on whether media overconsumption __causes__ problems (hint: it doesn’t) or whether inattentive parents leads to both media overconsumption and childhood problems (hint: bingo).
The race is on: will we take action against poor parenting before idiocracy makes it impossible?
Comment by Dave — December 4, 2008 @ 6:34 pm