Must NOT See TV
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
It turns out that our hunch was right. TV is an evil thing for humans with ages in the single digits (and probably people with double-digit ages too!).
Can you believe that 40% of homes just leave the television on all the time?
I wonder if those same parents would do the same if they knew how damaging it was to their children's development.
What makes one show superior to another is almost chilling in its simplicity, given that TV commonly serves as a substitute babysitter. "The closer the product comes to simulating the way a good nursery school teacher or attentive parent talks to a young child, the better," Ms. Guernsey writes.
A stunning number of families with babies and young children--39%, in one study--keep the TV on constantly. And the effect on small children is appalling: "Always on" television has been shown to damage their ability to play imaginatively and to develop language, and it reduces the number of nurturing interactions between parents and children. One researcher told Ms. Guernsey that little children trying to learn words in the presence of constant noise are "devastatingly impaired."
wsj.com
Can you believe that 40% of homes just leave the television on all the time?
I wonder if those same parents would do the same if they knew how damaging it was to their children's development.
Labels: book review, opinion journal, parenting, tv, wall street journal, wsj.com
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