New Links
I've just updated www.tvSmarter.com with a lot of new links.
Note: I also took down the “Screen-Free Week” banner (until next year), so if it still shows up on tvSmarter, just click on refresh and any new links will then show up.
Here is a small sampling:
Blog Posts Linking to tvSmarter:
“Living Now - Television as a child development hazard”
http://www.livingnow.com.au/advertise/a ... azard.html
“Junk Culture Manifesto - Quick Note On Self-Esteem & Television or Stop Exposing Yourself to Consumer Culture!”
http://junkculturemanifesto.blogspot.co ... on-or.html
Overview:
Natural News - Television
http://www.naturalnews.com/television.html
Kids and TV:
“Why TV Undermines Academics & Values”
http://www.ahaparenting.com/parenting-t ... -academics
"While popular TV shows of past generations, such as "Happy Days," focused on values including benevolence, self-acceptance and tradition, today's shows emphasize fame as the No. 1 value, according to a new study."
http://www.livescience.com/15018-tv-sho ... rtant.html
"In a typical day, 47% of babies and toddlers ages 0 through 1 watch TV or DVDs, and those who do watch spend an average of nearly two hours (1:54) doing so."
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/researc ... atching-tv
“The Screen-Free Guide to Showers for Harried Parents of Infants and Toddlers”
http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/showerguide.htm
“Moving towards a screen-free lifestyle with kids”
http://www.babble.com/toddler/toddler-d ... reen-time/
“Anti-TV: 'My children have more fun without the box'”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/33 ... e-box.html
Sleep and TV:
"A growing body of research is finding that infants and children under the age of 3 who watch TV — even too much TV during the day — struggle with interrupted sleep and irregular bed and naptime schedules. A recent study found that children under age 3 who watch television are at higher risk of disturbed sleep. Other studies have looked at the effects of TV viewing on older children and teens, and also found a link between TV, poor sleep and later bedtimes."
http://bhealthblog.com/viewing-tv-linke ... -bedtimes/
Aggression and TV:
"Past research has shown that viewing physical violence on TV activates aggressive scripts in the brain, but our findings suggest that watching both onscreen physical or relational aggression activates those cognitive scripts," Linder said. "Viewers don't simply choose to imitate TV characters or make a conscious decision to engage in aggressive behavior. Aggressive reactions are more automatic and less conscious than most people assume."
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-s ... ssion.html
"This article examines the play behavior of 70 preschool children and its relationship to television violence and regulatory status. Linear regression analysis showed that violent program content and poor self-regulation were independently and significantly associated with overall and physical aggression."
http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v11n2/daly.html
Cognitive Decline and TV:
"What about cognitive functions? Is there any evidence that ordinary daily activities benefit the mind? Georgia Tech neuroscientists surveyed the activity levels of several hundred older adults and then gave them a battery of aptitude tests. The more active individuals had higher mental ability scores. Highly active Icelandic women and men in their mid-70s were much stronger on tests of processing speed, memory and executive functions than their sedentary contemporaries. Even more interesting was that those elders who spent the most time watching TV had lower mental ability scores."
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the ... tive-aging
Health and TV:
"The province of Quebec in Canada has the lowest childhood obesity rates in the country despite having one of the most sedentary lifestyles. How is that possible? A studyby Tirtha Dhar and Kathy Baylis found that Quebec’s 32 year ban on advertising to children led to an estimated: - US$88 million annual reduction in expenditures on fast food - 13.4 billion to 18.4 billion fewer fast food calories being consumed per year. The study also found that patterns established in childhood carried into adulthood, with French speaking young adults in Quebec being 38% less likely to purchase fast food than French speaking young adults in Ontario (where there is no advertising ban)."
http://www.care2.com/causes/advertising ... z214rVtnLx
"Familiarity with television fast-food ads linked to obesity"
http://www.psypost.org/2012/05/familiar ... sity-11431
"How services like Netflix (in moderation) could help parents break the junk food propaganda stranglehold"
http://www.naturalnews.com/035201_Netfl ... ganda.html
"The prevalence of obesity is lowest among children watching 1 or fewer hours of television a day, and highest among those watching 4 or more hours of television a day."
http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article ... eid=190446
Reading:
The more kids (and adults) spend watching TV, the less time and inclination they have for reading.
"4th grade reading achievement levels (Percent) – 2011 - At or above proficient 32%"
http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/ac ... 188&tf=867
"American High School Students Are Reading Books At 5th-Grade-Appropriate Levels"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/2 ... 73680.html
Play:
The more kids (and adults) spend watching TV, the less time and inclination they have for play.
"FIVE WAYS PLAY BENEFITS KIDS"
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archi ... ed/246422/#
"The kind of play that educators and psychologists say encourages executive function is sustained, elaborate imaginary play where kids make a plan, stay in character (doctor, teacher, sales person), and live in that alternate world for an extended period of time."
http://www.babble.com/toddler/toddler-d ... tive-play/
"Organized sports have become the play of many children but actually only about a quarter of all children are playing an organized sport during any season of the year. So the vast majority are just sitting around, growing obese at an alarming rate and missing out on important socializing...”
http://psychcentral.com/lib/2012/where- ... ids-today/
ADD / ADHD:
TV watching suppresses the Gamma brainwaves, and Gamma brainwaves are essential for “working memory”. Here are a few links on the importance of “working memory”.
http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/conten ... 9.abstract
http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abs ... cript=true
"Brain-training efforts designed to improve working memory can also boost scores in general problem-solving ability and improve fluid intelligence, according to new University of Michigan research."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 075642.htm
"Dyscalculia and Working Memory"
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/kee ... ing-memory
"More striking is that every single prodigy scored off the charts in working memory -- better than 99 percent of the general population.”
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/bea ... s-autistic
"This time, a new study suggests that kids with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have shown symptom relief after engaging in a five-week working memory-training program revolving around “game-like” software."
http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/workmem.htm