Too Much TV Inhibits Learning

Viewing Habits In Elementary School Could Affect College Success

(WebMD)  Children who watch too much TV or have a television set in their bedroom may suffer in school and cut their chances of graduating from college, according to new research.

Three separate studies provide new evidence that children's television viewing habits can have a negative effect on their academic achievement later in life in many ways. These include:

• Having a TV in the bedroom was linked to lower scores on standardized math, language, and reading tests in the third grade.
  
  
• Children who watched the most TV between the ages of 5 and 11 were less likely to graduate from college.
  
  
• Each hour of daily television viewing before age 3 was associated with lower developmental scores at ages 6 to 7.

Researchers say the impact of the findings could be substantial, as more than 70 percent of U.S. children have a TV in their bedroom.

Excessive television viewing among children has been linked to a greater risk of obesity and violent behavior. Researchers say the long-term effects of television on academic achievement have been less clear.


TV In Child's Bedroom Hurts Test Scores

The first of the studies, which appear in the July issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, looked at the relationship between children's use of media (television and computers) and academic achievement in about 350 third-graders at six public elementary schools in northern California in 2000.