Watching TV reduces child's intelligence
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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The time that the child spends watching TV, leads to a change in the structure of the brain, which is extremely harmful. To such conclusions scientists came from Tohoku University, which is located in Japan. Similar conclusions were made by the scientists after studying the tomography of 276 voluntary participants in the experiment, whose age was from 5 to 18 years.
According to the researchers, the children who participated in the study were held in front of the TV from one to four hours a day, on average, each child watched TV programs for about two hours a day. According to the results of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) it was found that the more time a child watches various TV shows, the more gray matter accumulates in the brain of the front-polar cortex. As a result, the child's verbal intelligence is reduced. Japanese experts note that gray matter near the front-polar cortex with age should decrease, as a result, the brain effectively works. Also, scientists have observed that the owners of a high mental coefficient have a fairly strong thinning of the front-polar cortex.
In other words, a long view of the television leads to the child's brain becoming worse to analyze events around him, and also to solve the daily tasks that arise before him, to build logical chains, etc., in general, the child's intelligence is reduced.
However, some experts are sure that the reason for the effect is not in the TV itself, but in programs that children watch. If a child looks at the screen for hours and receives a huge amount of various information, the brain simply does not have time to process it and its development slows down. Experts are sure that parents should control not only the time that their children spend in front of the TV screen, but also TV programs. It was noted that watching educational programs (for example, studying musical instruments) does not adversely affect the brain, but such video lessons should also be dosed. Previously, such studies aimed at studying the influence of TV on the brain, were not conducted, and the scientists intend to continue their research. Now experts are sure that there is a link between structural changes in the brain and watching TV, but it is not the only one, because all the participants in the experiment besides watching TV programs also spent time with their loved ones, read, played sports, etc. Therefore, other activities could have influenced the increase in the volume of gray matter.
Previously, Dutch scientists have been shown that watching TV shows more than two worsen the condition of the arteries. Experts have proved that the arteries become more severe, which in the future threatens diseases of the cardiovascular system. Also, experts at the Harvard School of Public Health have found that fans of watching TV tend to develop diabetes. In this regard, experts recommend watching TV no longer than two hours a day, both for children and adults.