TV bad for kids, new study

[jlotus]

Watching TV can literally change the way a child's brain develops, especially in the first few years of life, says Jill Stamm, psychologist and author of Bright From the Start and co-founder of New Directions Institute for Infant Brain Development in Phoenix.

With its short bursts of programming and commercials, TV trains infants' brains to scan and shift rather than pay attention for sustained periods of time. Once established, this pattern can inhibit learning ability later.

"What the brain gets wired for is quick hits of salient information. The brain gets used to that, and that's what it wants," Stamm says.

Reduce viewing or stop altogether and the damage can be repaired, Stamm says: "If you make changes, and particularly if you make them while the child is under 5, the brain rapidly adapts."

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[jlotus]

This study -- which will appear in the journal "Pediatrics" -- shows every hour per day that your little kids under 3 watch something violent -- that's supposedly made for kids -- that doubles their risk of attention problems five years later. And, the study broke things down into boys versus girls. It shows that boys are affected by violent cartoons more than girls.

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