Adolescents who watch too much TV develop learning problems and are less likely to go to university, according to a study that followed nearly 700 children for 20 years … which adds further concern to the shocking findings of new research carried out in Bahrain.
In the study, 14-year-olds who watched more than three hours a day were twice as likely not to continue their education after school as children who watched less than an hour.
The researchers believe that watching too much TV makes other activities such as reading and homework more boring and challenging.
“Adolescence is known to be a ‘critical period’ for the development of many important cognitive skills. In this context, it is very understandable that, if youths spend more of their free time watching TV ... rather than reading, doing homework and having other valuable learning experiences, the development of their cognitive skills may be inhibited,” said Jeffrey Johnson at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, who led the research team.
Teenagers in Bahrain watch television an average of four hours a day, according to a separate study revealed this week.
The author said he was “embarrassed” to discover that some watched television as much as seven hours a day.
Bahrain Centre for Studies and Research (BCSR) assistant general secretary for scientific research and organising committee head Dr Abdulrahman Musaigar described the situation as “critical”.
“Children watch television from one to seven hours (a day) and the average is four hours a day.”
He warned that children who watched too much television were more at risk of becoming obese than those who took part in sports.
The study surveyed 254 Bahraini mothers, aged 20 to 50, and found that 22 per cent of their children had a television in their bedrooms.
In terms of television viewing, it found that 59 per cent of mothers tried to explain immoral or unacceptable programmes shown on television, while 36 per cent explained occasionally and five per cent didn’t explain it at all.
“Forty-nine per cent mothers interfered with what their children watched, while 37 per cent did occasionally and 14 per cent mothers did not,” he added.
The study also showed that 49 per cent mothers prevented them from watching certain channels, while 44 per cent did it occasionally.
The study showed that most mothers prevented their children from watching violent and immoral programmes.
Teenagers mostly watched animation programmes (90 per cent), Arabic series (53 per cent), car races (28 per cent) and educational programmes (29 per cent).
It found that 47 per cent of mothers allowed their children to watch television until 9pm, 14 per cent mothers allowed them to watch television until 10 pm and the rest allowed children to watch it until later.
Only 19 per cent of women’s husbands sat with their children while watching television, while 68 per cent did occasionally and 12 per cent didn’t do at all.
Dr Musaigar added: “Teenagers who watch television are more prone to having health problems and tend to socialise less.”
The US researchers were able to show statistically that excess TV viewing appears to lead to poor academic achievement, rather than the other way round.
They could do this because they factored the children’s learning abilities at the start of the study into their analysis. The team first selected volunteers from a range of socio- economic backgrounds in New York State in 1975.
Subsequently, the team assessed the children’s TV habits and educational performance at age 13, 16, 22 and 33.
Dr Johnson said he believes that the brains of children who watch lots of TV become accustomed to rapidly changing visual stimuli which do not require much intellectual effort.
That might make other activities such as reading and listening in class more difficult to concentrate on, and more boring.
“Our findings indicate that youths who frequently watch TV may develop problems such as classroom boredom, ‘hating school’ and difficulty doing homework – all of which may be in part a result of having become habituated to frequently changing and highly stimulating material on the TV or video screen,” he added.
Among children who showed no signs of learning problems at the start of the study, the team found that 22 per cent of children who were watching more than three hours of TV a day at age 14 did not go on to higher education.
For those who had watched less than one hour of TV a day that number was seven per cent.
The equivalent figures for children who had learning problems at the start of the study are 45 per cent and 29 per cent.
The study is published in the Archives of Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine.