Does Childhood Television Viewing Lead to Attention Problems in Adolescence?

Does Childhood Television Viewing Lead to Attention Problems in Adolescence? Results From a Prospective Longitudinal Study
Carl Eric Landhuis et al.; 2007
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/120/3/532.long


Abstract

CONTEXT. There is controversy over whether childhood television viewing causes attention problems. The findings from cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have been mixed. To our knowledge, no longitudinal studies have assessed the impact of children's television viewing on attention problems in adolescence. The objective of this study was to assess this association.

DESIGN, PARTICIPANTS, AND SETTING. Study members were a general population birth cohort of 1037 participants (502 female) born in Dunedin, New Zealand, between April 1972 and March 1973. Parental estimates of children's television-viewing time were obtained at ages 5, 7, 9, and 11 years. Self-, parent-, and teacher-reported attention problems in adolescence were obtained at ages 13 and 15 years.

RESULTS. The mean of hours of television viewing during childhood was associated with symptoms of attention problems in adolescence. These associations remained significant after controlling for gender, attention problems in early childhood, cognitive ability at 5 years of age, and childhood socioeconomic status. This association was also independent of adolescent television viewing.

CONCLUSIONS. Childhood television viewing was associated with attention problems in adolescence, independent of early attention problems and other confounders. These results support the hypothesis that childhood television viewing may contribute to the development of attention problems and suggest that the effects may be long-lasting.

TV-Konsum der Österreicher/innen erreichte 2012 bisherigen Höchstwert

Mit einer durchschnittlichen TV-Nutzungszeit von 169 Minuten pro Tag verbrachten die Österreicher/innen (ab 12 Jahren) im vergangenen Jahr mehr Zeit vor den Fernsehgeräten als je zuvor. Die Verweildauer – die Nutzungszeit der an einem Tag jeweils fernsehenden Bevölkerung – betrug dabei 261 Minuten pro Tag – ebenfalls ein historischer Höchstwert. Zugenommen hat zum dritten Mal in Folge auch die TV-Reichweite: 2012 erreichte das Medium Fernsehen täglich 4,6 Mio. Österreicher/innen, das entspricht einer Tagesreichweite von 64 %.


http://mediaresearch.orf.at/index2.htm?fernsehen/fernsehen_nutzungsverhalten.htm


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(Zum Vergrößern auf das Bild klicken.)
http://www.ard-zdf-onlinestudie.de/index.php?id=353

[Was macht Herr Müller, wenn er zu viel Freizeit hat? Er sieht fern. 3 bzw. 4 Stunden tägliche Sehzeit (etwa ab dem 13. Lebensjahr) bedeuten schlicht, dass der Durchschnittsösterreicher bzw. der Durchschnittsdeutsche ungefähr einen Zeitraum von neun bzw. zwölf Jahren durchgehend vor dem Fernseher verbringt. Abzüglich der Schlafzeiten lässt sich dies etwa mit der Wachzeit von 13,5 bzw. 18 Lebensjahren gleichsetzen.]

Couch kids: Correlates of television viewing among youth

Couch kids: Correlates of television viewing among youth
T Gorely, SJ Marshall, SJH Biddle; September 2004
International Journal of Behavioral Medicine


Abstract

The purpose of this study was to review the published empirical correlates of television/video viewing among youth (2 to 18 years). A descriptive semi-quantitative review was conducted based on 68 primary studies. Variables consistently associated with TV/video viewing were ethnicity (non-white +), parent income (-), parent education (-), body weight (+), between meal snacking (+), number of parents in the house (-), parents TV viewing habits (+), weekend (+) and having a TV in the bedroom (+). Variables consistently unrelated to TV/video viewing were sex, other indicators of socio-economic status, body fatness, cholesterol levels, aerobic fitness, strength, other indicators of fitness, self-perceptions, emotional support, physical activity, other diet variables, and being an only child. Few modifiable correlates have been identified. Further research should aim to identify modifiable correlates of TV/video viewing if interventions are to be successfully tailored to reduce this aspect of inactivity among youth.

The spread of TV:

In 1950 barely 10 percent of American homes had television sets, but by 1959, 90 percent did, probably the fastest diffusion of a technological innovation ever recorded. (The spread of Internet access will rival TV's record but probably not surpass it.)

Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone, 2000

Fernsehen - eine Leerlauftätigkeit par excellence:

Television Viewing is a Passive and Relaxing, Low Concentration Activity. When viewing television, people report feeling more passive and less challenged and alert, while simultaneously concentrating less and using fewer skills, than in allmost any other daily activity except resting and "doing nothing".

Robert Kubey, Television and the Quality of Life, 1990

[Neben den 7-8 Stunden Nachtschlaf verbringt der Durchschnittsdeutsche noch zusätzlich etwa 3-4 Stunden mit Tagschlaf und verschläft somit etwa die Hälfte des Tages. Zusätzlich übt das Fernsehen vor allem auf Vielfernseher eine beträchtliche Suggestivwirkung aus.]

Television & Uniformity of Mind:

In psychology laboratories, one may see rats, dogs and monkeys with brain-embedded electrodes and a radio antenna on top of their heads through which an experimenter can convey prescribed emotional states of mind. Some hundreds of millions of citizens are, today, similarly screwed to T.V. sets, similarly designed to generate a prescribed uniformity of mind and an abdication of individual thinking. What this means for the processes of thought and judgment on which the healthy functioning of societies has hitherto depended, no one yet knows.

Raymond Cattell, Beyondism - A New Morality From Science, 1972

Television: "the danger is not the behaviour it produces, but the behavior it prevents"

Any scientist or educator, concerned to get society to consider vital issues, or any Humanist, concerned to get attention to good literature, has to admit that the effect of the mass media has been to trivialize. It argues that it can survive financially only by putting the sensational and the superficial rather than fundamental and progressive issues before the public. The reading of great books and the time normally available in other generations for individual thought, reflection, and the formation of independent opinion have inevitably suffered grievously with the crescendo of activity in the mass media. In aspiring to a true democracy, one cannot take lightly what is now happening to the mind of the average man. A survey shows that ninety-six percent of American homes have one or more television sets, and that the home set is turned on more than six hours a day (rather more than four hours for each occupant). Bronfenbrenner rightly concludes "the danger is not the behavior it produces, but the behavior it prevents."

Raymond Cattell, Beyondism - A New Morality From Science, 1972

Gedanken zum Fernsehen:

Jedes neu entwickelte Informations- und Unterhaltungsmedium nutzt verbesserte und umfassendere Möglichkeiten der Anregung, "Belohnung" und Bedürfnisbefriedigung. Die Reize werden immer komplexer und intensiver. Alle Unterhaltungsmedien wollen uns zum Konsum verführen. Und wenn sie gut gemacht sind, schaffen sie das auch. Je passiver der Mensch dabei ist, desto mehr drängt sich dem unvoreingenommenen Beobachter der Vergleich zur Zufuhr psychotroper Substanzen auf. Das Fernsehen wirkt unter dem Blickwinkel am deutlichsten wie eine Droge. So ist es nicht weiter erstaunlich, dass die durchschnittliche tägliche Nutzungsdauer des Fernsehens bei 210 Minuten liegt (Angabe aus dem Jahr 2005). Wenn jemand täglich 8 Stunden schläft und 10 Stunden inklusive Fahrt- und Pausenzeiten mit der Arbeit verbringt, dann widmet er mehr als die Hälfte seiner wachen, frei verfügbaren Zeit dem Fernsehen, wobei Zeiten für Einkaufen, Hygiene und Essen noch nicht einmal berücksichtigt sind! Das ist gesundheitlich bedenklich (Couch Potatoes), je nach Art des Programms vielleicht sogar verblödend, und es fördert soziale Isolierung. Aber mit der massenhaften "Sucht" scheinen wir uns abgefunden zu haben, da sie die berufliche und soziale Funktionstüchtigkeit der Menschen bisher nicht so sehr beeinträchtigt hat, wie es noch vor wenigen Jahrzehnten von einigen Zukunftsdeutern befürchtet wurde.

Ralf Schneider, SF, 2011

Television and Sex:

Before 1970 extramarital sex had to be justified by a loving relationship, if it was justified at all. During the next two decades, recreational sex was presented as acceptable about six times as often as it was rejected. In the 1990s, hardly anyone ever argues against having sex for any reason.

Prime Time; Lichter, Lichter & Rothman; 1994