Posted Sept 18, 2010
A study officially confirms that hours of TV and video games chip away at kids’ attention.
When my daughter settles in to watch an episode of Curious George, she has the focus of a master chess champion. That child does not turn away from the screen. I call that real focus. So why is the result just the opposite?
A new study says that the rapid pace could make it difficult for children to focus on non-video life. Science Daily reported the findings this week, along with the research study background info:
“Many researchers speculate that it may be due to rapid-pacing, or the natural attention grabbing aspects that television and video games use,” Swing said.
“Brain science demonstrates that the brain becomes what the brain does,” Gentle said. “If we train the brain to require constant stimulation and constant flickering lights, changes in sound and camera angle, or immediate feedback, such as video games can provide, then when the child lands in the classroom where the teacher doesn’t have a million-dollar-per-episode budget, it may be hard to get children to sustain their attention.”
The Iowa State University study recommends limiting kids’ intake to two hours a day-which is far above the national average. The University of Michigan’s studies report that children ages 2-5 spend 32 hours a week in front of a TV and kids ages 6-11 spend about 28 hours.
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© 2010, Hybrid Mom, http://www.hybridmom.com/.