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Some thought-provoking pieces about "screen time for kids" -

First, an opinion column was posted on our parent-directed education
yahoo list today, saying that people demonize tv watching in some very
unthinking ways.

<A HREF="http://www.townhall.com/columnists/jacobsullum/js20031031.shtml">http://www.townhall.com/columnists/jacobsullum/js20031031.shtml</A>

Little kids watch TV; alert the media!
Jacob Sullum


And for our PDE website, we linked books and articles both pro and
con about what tv and computer use might do to change brain function. (Yes,
there are pros as well as cons -- be sure you get all sides of the "research!")

High Tech Debate: Does It Develop or Destroy Young Minds?
Dr. Jane Healy's work is linked there, as the best known opponent of
electronic media for young children. I remember that her books included the Japanese
studies that perhaps Teresa was seeking. At the same time, others are
documenting gains in processing multiple inputs simultaneously from abstract data, in
military and similar technical applications for instance <g>

These are linked as part of PDE's Thinking Parent resource at:

http://www.parentdirectededucation.org/Thinking%20Parent/VideoGames.htm




> I know a group of people who think allowing your kids unlimited access to
> TV and video games is abusive to young children as it changes their thought
> patterns and brain development. It also contributes to overweight kids, poor
> eye sight, ability to concentrate, and I can't remember what else. I will
> stress these are not my beliefs but things I have picked up from reading,
> emails , and talking with NO TV proponents. I had copies of some of the different
> studies done in Japan about screen time and brain function. (I'll note here
> that they were the actual study reports not some persons idea of what those
> reports had to say) Unfortunately my pc blasted off into pop-up spamdem
> trogen hell and the files along with all else on my pc were lost. I've hunted
> for them and found two but they were the Japanese version and the translation
> was not very accurate. From what I did read there is evidence that yes it
> does use parts of the brain differently or different part of the brain in
> combination, than any other activity.









[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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In a message dated 10/31/03 10:11:29 AM, jrossedd@... writes:

<< First, an opinion column was posted on our parent-directed education
yahoo list today, saying that people demonize tv watching in some very
unthinking ways. >>

COOL! I want to link that.

Hey, on TV the other day, I meant to mention, an author was on a talk show
saying that 75% of American children under two years old have watched TV!!! She
seemed SHOCKED!! And she went on about how the news was a terrible thing for
little kids to know about, and some children watch TV for TWO HOURS in a day,
and they just shouldn 't.

It just amused me, that her boogey man was the news, and I'm guessing she's
just never around any two year olds.

She had not one interesting or new argument, just retread of the same old
stuff but she had great blonde hair and she spoke well, so she was on TV!
Tra-la! (Maybe I'm being unfair in my assessment of her experience, but definitely
she was being unfair in her expressed opinion about TV evil.)

Too many people will say what others want to hear. "Doesn't the emperor have
lovely new clothes!?" (GOSH, some think: If someone that pretty and well
spoken sees them, I'm going to say "YES, beautiful clothes," and I hope I see
them soon.)

Sandra

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"In case parents need more reassurance on this score, Kaiser's survey found
no evidence that TV watching displaces other activities among children 3 and
younger. It also found that "the portrayal of television watching among young
children as a highly solitary activity is not accurate," and that parents were
"more likely to see positive than negative behaviors being copied" from TV.

"Press coverage of the study ignored or played down these and other upbeat
findings, instead emphasizing results that could be cited as cause for concern."

(For people who have a hard time getting to websites, I quoted my favorite
part.)

<A HREF="http://www.townhall.com/columnists/jacobsullum/js20031031.shtml">
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/jacobsullum/js20031031.shtml</A>