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Watching TV reduces a child's intelligence
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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The time a child spends watching TV changes the structure of the brain, which is extremely harmful. This is the conclusion reached by scientists from Tohoku University, which is located in Japan. The scientists made such conclusions after studying the tomography of 276 volunteer participants in the experiment, whose ages ranged from 5 to 18 years.
According to the researchers, the children who participated in the study spent from one to four hours a day in front of the TV, 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 programs, the more gray matter accumulates in the brain near the frontopolar cortex. As a result, the child's verbal intelligence decreases. Japanese experts note that the gray matter near the frontopolar cortex should decrease with age, as a result, the brain works effectively. Scientists also noted that people with a high IQ have a fairly strong thinning of the frontopolar cortex.
In other words, watching TV for a long time leads to the child’s brain becoming worse at analyzing events happening around it, as well as worse at solving everyday problems, building logical chains, etc., in general, the child’s intelligence decreases.
However, some experts are sure that the reason for the effect is not in the TV itself, but in the programs that children watch. If a child stares at the screen for long hours, from where he receives a colossal 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 their children spend in front of the TV screen, but also TV programs. It was noted that watching educational programs (for example, learning musical instruments) does not have such a negative effect on the brain, but such video lessons should also be dosed. Previously, similar studies aimed at studying the effect of TV on the brain have not been conducted, and scientists intend to continue their research. Now experts are sure that there is a connection between structural changes in the brain and watching TV, but it is not the only one, since all participants in the experiment, in addition to watching TV programs, also spent time with their loved ones, read, played sports, etc. Therefore, other activities could have influenced the increase in gray matter.
Previously, Dutch scientists proved that watching TV for more than two hours worsens the condition of arteries. Experts have proven that arteries become stiffer, which in the future threatens cardiovascular diseases. Also, specialists from the Harvard School of Public Health have found that TV lovers are prone to developing diabetes. In this regard, experts recommend watching TV for no more than two hours a day, both for children and adults.