Does Watching TV Cause ADHD?
Tuesday April 6, 2004
A new study, 'Early Television Exposure and Subsequent Attentional Problems in Children', has many people thinking about the effects watching TV may have on our children. Does watching TV cause ADHD?
This new study that appeared in the April issue of Pediatrics suggests that it does. Children followed in this study were more likely to have attentional problems if they watched a lot of TV at age 1 and 3 years.
There were some limitations to the study. For one thing, the children weren't formally diagnosed with ADHD. Instead, their parents were simply asked if they had trouble concentrating, were easily confused, impulsive, restless, or had trouble with obsessions.
And most importantly, just because those children watched more TV, it doesn't mean that was why they had problems paying attention. It may just be that they already had ADHD, got easily distracted by other activities, and simply watched TV more because it is so stimulating.
There are plenty of other reasons not to let your younger kids watch a lot of TV though. Kids who watch too much TV are less likely to read well and more likely to become overweight. If you add in that watching TV may also cause ADHD, it should make it easier for parents to follow the AAP guidelines and:
This new study that appeared in the April issue of Pediatrics suggests that it does. Children followed in this study were more likely to have attentional problems if they watched a lot of TV at age 1 and 3 years.
There were some limitations to the study. For one thing, the children weren't formally diagnosed with ADHD. Instead, their parents were simply asked if they had trouble concentrating, were easily confused, impulsive, restless, or had trouble with obsessions.
And most importantly, just because those children watched more TV, it doesn't mean that was why they had problems paying attention. It may just be that they already had ADHD, got easily distracted by other activities, and simply watched TV more because it is so stimulating.
There are plenty of other reasons not to let your younger kids watch a lot of TV though. Kids who watch too much TV are less likely to read well and more likely to become overweight. If you add in that watching TV may also cause ADHD, it should make it easier for parents to follow the AAP guidelines and:
- discourage television viewing for children younger than 2 years
- limit children's total media time (with entertainment media) to no more than 1 to 2 hours of quality programming per day
- remove television sets from children's bedrooms
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