A One-Eyed Invader in the Bedroom

[FloridaJudy]

Source: Source: NYT

Here’s one simple way to keep your children healthy: Ban the bedroom TV.

By some estimates, half of American children have a television in their bedroom; one study of third graders put the number at 70 percent. And a growing body of research shows strong associations between TV in the bedroom and numerous health and educational problems.

Children with bedroom TVs score lower on school tests and are more likely to have sleep problems. Having a television in the bedroom is strongly associated with being overweight and a higher risk for smoking.

One of the most obvious consequences is that the child will simply end up watching far more television — and many parents won’t even know.




Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/health/04well.html?em&ex=1204779600&en=78f61674f4dc1bca&ei=5087%0A

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:wow:

Up to 70% of third graders have a television in their bedrooms?

I think we're all in trouble.

[OwnedByFerrets]

1. They, along with DVD's are

great babysitters for so-called parents who dont want to be bothered.

[fight4my3sons]

2. 3rd graders?!

:crazy: :wow: I wouldn't think of putting a television in my kid's room at that age.

[Hydra]

3. I used to have a TV and nintendo in my room

and I never had trouble figuring our 1 + 1 = 2 and was constantly underweight when I went to the doctor.

Still, going outside was not impossible for me, and I think it is becoming so for many kids. Sad.

[NickB79]

4. Reading that title, I was WAY off on what I thought this article would be about

My mind was really, really in the gutter there.

[FloridaJudy]

12. So was mine

Why do you think I clicked on the title of that article? The NYT? Nah: that couldn't be about what it sounds like...

[WorseBeforeBetter]

5. I was thinking of something much, much different.

But, yes. And I'll add that computers should be kept out of kids' rooms as well. Nothing like a little internet porn with their 4th grade science homework...

[Forkboy]

6. But enough about my sex life.

[Deja Q]

7. I didn't have a tv

but I had a computer.

TV came later.

Plenty of bullies ensured I made real friends with the computer.

Couldn't the bullies be stuck in a gilded cell?

Still live in a gilded cell these days. I'm content. Have my computer.

[halobeam]

8. My kids were 16 and 12 when I put one in their room

they share the room.

I only put it in, because oldest one has sleeping problems and to stop his mind from starting to race at night, or worry, etc, watching tv helps him fall asleep. He's out like a light within a half hour now.

Youngest isn't allowed to fall asleep with the tv on (9 is early enough for us to supervise this).

I wouldn't have one in their room if this wasn't the case, and if it didn't work, it would've been removed.

Bedrooms are for special purposes and we all know that is strictly for sleeping! ;-)

[Hissyspit]

9. That explains a lot of my college freshman students...

I had no idea people were doing that to this extent.

[msongs]

10. no kid should have an internet connection unless their parents can supervise at all times nt

[kestrel91316]

11. When my niece and nephew were in grade school/jr high, for

about two or three years, they each had a tiny TV in their bedrooms. Then when I came the next year to visit, the TVs were both gone, never to reappear. Nobody ever mentioned it, but I suspect that was about the time my sis and BIL started waking up from their Yuppie Dream and got serious social consciences.

TV is in their living room, but it's usually only on if there is a specific football game to watch, or a movie/DVD. The kids know how to carry on an intelligent conversation with others, and also are big readers. My niece is in the U of Iowa Graduate Writer's Workshop, actually.

TV rots kids' brains, IMHO. They got saved from an overdose just in time.

[SpiralHawk]

13. "Son of a gun. I thought for sure this would be about trouser snakes." - Commander AWOL

"Smirk. We republicons are into that, smirk, kind of humor. Smirk." - Commander AWOL

[LeftyMom]

14. Mine's almost seven, and I just now allowed one in the living room.

I don't see the point in having one in his room. We're getting one of those DVR things (the cable installer isn't coming out until next week- I wasn't kidding when I said I just allowed it) and if there are two things on at once, one of them can just be recorded for later. The need for a second TV just means people are overusing the thing.

It's also important for parents to be very picky about programming. He gets to watch some of the better documentary and educational stuff (mostly geared toward adults, almost all of the "educational" shows for kids are crap) and occasional movies and once in a blue moon he wants to watch a sporting event, and I allow that. But I'd no more allow my son to watch any garbage on television without my input- which is what a bedroom tv does- than I would allow him to eat any of the crap they sell at the grocery store without my input.

There are a few gems on television. And there's a lot of dirt. Kids don't generally have the media savvy to sort the gems from the dirt. Many also lack the ability to know when they need to move on to other parts of their day. Part of the problem with that is so many adults are modeling passive television absorption as typical behavior. So many families essentially never have a moment when they're home and awake, but the television is off, and often the television stays on the same channel for hours, through good shows and bad, commercials, repeats, you name it. The message is clear- people watch, and they watch whatever's on. Kids are great learners, but sometimes they learn what we demonstrate when we intend to teach them something else entirely.

(As a weird aside- has anybody else noticed that TV families almost never seem to watch TV? Often one never even sees evidence that they own one.)

[MuseRider]

15. I never allowed it.

My boys are grown and fine. They had friends that had TV's, game systems, computers with internet access with no supervision and refrigerators. They never had to interact with the family and that was how the parents preferred it. I never understood that kind of parenting (?) and my kids thought they were being raised in poverty but they turned out OK and they now enjoy reading a lot but they do also enjoy TV but not nearly as much as their friends. They also got darned good at their music.

[Voltaire99]

16. Ban TV?!? Smells like teen Communism!

Without TV, how would we know which other nations need to be bombed, which negligible side effects to ask our doctor about, or which American Idol we should model our cut-and-paste lives after?

No, don't take away Teevee! Little Lebowski Urban Achievers need their flatscreen friends.