A recent study by researchers at the University of Virginia suggests that SpongeBob SquarePants needs a time-out.
According to the study, children scored significantly lower on cognitive tests immediately after watching the cartoon, compared to kids watching a slower-paced, educational program or drawing.
The researchers speculate that the fast-paced nature of the show affects the brain’s ability to concentrate.
But it’s more than that, it is common sense — TV is bad for us.
The American Academy of Pediatrics appears to agree. In their policy statement regarding “Children, Adolescents, and Television,” published in Feb. 2001, they demonstrate concern about the amount and the quality of TV being absorbed by American youth.
In the past, however, much of the health concerns were focused on violence and behavior. According to AAP, “Research has shown primary negative health effects on violence and aggressive behavior; sexuality; academic performance; body concept and self-image; nutrition; dieting, and obesity; and substance abuse and abuse patterns.”
And now we can add “stupidity” to the list. So why do we allow our children such unfettered access to such an obviously harmful activity?
Well, we’re lazy and addicted too. We’ve just traded cartoons for ESPN “SportsCenter,” MTV’s “Jersey Shore,” ABC’s “The Bachelorette” and every other program we can stream endlessly from Hulu and Netflix.
Much too often, parents use television as a substitute for parenting.
Instead of encouraging our kids to practice an instrument, play sports, build model airplanes, read or tinker with a chemistry set, we let them play video games and watch television.
Because that’s how we spend our time: monkey see, monkey do.
According to AAP, the average child watches three hours of TV per day, and over six hours when counted with other media, like video games. “By the time the average person reaches age 70,” the policy says, “he or she will have spent the equivalent of 7 to 10 years watching television.”
But what’s truly remarkable about the SpongeBob study is that it doesn’t take hours or years for children to be negatively effected by TV — it only takes a few minutes. According to the study, it only took nine minutes.
It should come as no shock then, that America’s tests scores are dropping among the world’s developed nations. After all, we watch more than twice as much TV than any other country in the world, according to a 2009 OECD Communications Outlook report.
According to the 2011 OECD Program for International Student Assessment report, America’s “report card,” the U.S. ranked No. 14 for reading skills, No. 17 for science and No. 25 for mathematics. Twenty years ago, we were leading the pack.
Conclusion: A policy for boosting the American education system must also include a tougher stance on media exposure for children.
It is obviously a public health issue of the gravest sort — we are raising a generation of TV-addicted blockheads.
There have always been some restrictions on media consumption for minors — from laws sheltering kids from pornography to age-restricted ratings at movie theaters.
But there are very few, if any, regulations regarding TV, rather just recommendations from AAP. Parents should be responsible with their children, but as TV addicts themselves, they cannot be relied upon to lay down the law.
Legislators should take advantage of these new scientific studies, which confirm what common sense already tells us, to push for stricter media regulations and resuscitate the minds of our youth if we wish to remain relevant on the global stage.
Reach the columnist at djoconn1@asu.edu. Click here to subscribe to the daily State Press newsletter.
