What Does TV Do To A Child Brain?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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What does TV do to a child brain? Brain scans revealed that the more TV a child watched, the larger certain parts of the brain were. Grey matter volume was higher in regions toward the front and side of the head in kids who watched a lot of TV… In this case,

higher brain volume in these kids was associated with a lower verbal IQ

.

How does too much TV affect a child?

Studies have shown that kids who watch too much TV are

more likely to be overweight

— and, depending on the content of what they see, more aggressive. Excess TV viewing also has been linked to poor grades, sleep problems, and behavior problems.

What are the 10 Disadvantages of television?

  • Overstimulated Brains. …
  • Television Can Make Us Antisocial. …
  • Televisions Can be Expensive. …
  • Shows can be Full of Violence and Graphic Images. …
  • TV Can Make You Feel Inadequate. …
  • Adverts Can Manipulate Us Into Spending Money. …
  • TV Can Waste Our Time.

Is TV bad for kids?


Children who often spend more than 4 hours per day watching TV or using media are more likely to be overweight

. Kids who view violence onscreen are more likely to show aggressive behavior, and to fear that the world is scary and that something bad will happen to them.

Does TV cause speech delay?

This study by Chonchaiya and Pruksananonda found that

children who began watching tv before 12 months and who watched more than 2 hours of TV per day were six times more likely to have language delays

!

  • Decreased cognitive function.
  • Mental fog.
  • Reduced attention span.
  • Memory problems (e.g., not being able to learn new information or convert short-term memory into long-term memory)
  • Problematic or risky decision-making.
  • Lower energy levels.


Watching more than three-and-a-half hours of TV per day has been associated with a decline in memory of words and language

. Watching a lot of television in later life can damage memory of words and language, a new study has found.


Too Much TV Linked to Behavior Problems

Researchers found that children who watched more than two hours of television per day from age 2 1/2 until age 5 1/2 were more likely to develop sleep, attention, and aggressive behavior problems than those who watched less.

  • TV displaces active types of recreation. …
  • TV interferes with conversation and discussion time. …
  • TV discourages reading. …
  • Heavy TV viewing (more than 4 hours a day) definitely reduces school performance. …
  • TV discourages exercise. …
  • TV advertising encourages a demand for material possessions.

For children 2-5, limit non-educational screen time to about

1 hour per weekday and 3 hours on the weekend days

. For ages 6 and older, encourage healthy habits and limit activities that include screens. Turn off all screens during family meals and outings. Learn about and use parental controls.


Life without TV cannot be better than a life with it

. Not with 4K, UltraHD, Blu-Ray, On-Demand, Streaming, and everything else out there. Without TV, there’d be no daily hum of CNN, ESPN, Food Network, and the Today Show in our lives every day.

Some positive effects are:

it enhances learning skills and recognize emotions; and the negative effects are it leads to violence, behave aggressively and lastly, it leads to emotional problems

.

Experts say adults should limit screen time outside of work to

less than two hours per day

. Any time beyond that which you would typically spend on screens should instead be spent participating in physical activity.

This is usually something they learn as they grow older, so it may be worth waiting until your kids are mature enough. There is no one-size-fits-all age, but I’d say waiting until your youngsters reach their teens (

around 14 years old

) is ideal.


Hand-held screens might delay a child’s ability to form words

, based on new research being presented this week at the annual Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting in San Francisco.

Additionally, psychologists argue that the large amount of time spent watching TV threatens the cohesiveness of the family. Such negative effects may also include inhibiting children’s social development by

diminishing the number of conversations between them and their family members

.

Children who often spend more than 4 hours per day watching TV or using media are more likely to be overweight.

Kids who view violence onscreen are more likely to show aggressive behavior, and to fear that the world is scary and that something bad will happen to them

.

Emily Lee
Author
Emily Lee
Emily Lee is a freelance writer and artist based in New York City. She’s an accomplished writer with a deep passion for the arts, and brings a unique perspective to the world of entertainment. Emily has written about art, entertainment, and pop culture.