Kids Watch More TV, Stupidity Follows

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You know, it's always a bit disconcerting to arrived at the house of your daughter's friend and find her proverbial "playdate" glued to the television watching some trash talk show of some movie clearly made for adults so this stat does not surprise. What does surprise is parent's lack of control and judgment over what their children watch on television and how long they are allowed to watch. One "playdate" who spends time in this house can't even sit still in front of the television (on the two weekend nights it's allowed here) because his brain has been so ADD'd by constant television watching at his house since birth he doesn't know how to follow a plot.

Parents: the TV, the Gameboy, the Nintendo, the Xbox, the PSP aren't very good babysitters and they sure aren't very good at developing smart brains. Get off your own ass and kick your kids ass outside. Give him a book. Read to her. Play a game with him. Make time for your kids or they'll end up like one of those wise ass kids you see bitching with their parents in public over something stupid. Damn, where did all *that* preaching come from? Sorry. Carry on.

by Steve Hall    Feb-13-06   Click to Comment   
Topic: Bad, Opinion, Research, Television, Trends and Culture   

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Comments



Comments

Seems that before someone rants about ADD and unsatisfactory parenting leading to intelligence deficits, one should write a newsletter that is consistently error-free (in terms of grammar, spelling, and punctuation). Unfortanately, such errors are par for the course at AdRants, rather than the exception to the rule.

Posted by: TheCooper on February 13, 2006 11:51 AM

Point taken, TheCooper, but we are just one person here. I do my best to bring those interested in advertising interesting stuff and hopefully they find enjoyment in that. No doubt, errors suck and I hate them when I see them. We aren't Ad Age. We don't have proofreaders. Likely, we never will. Just call it part of the charm of Adrants.

Posted by: Steve Hall on February 13, 2006 12:45 PM

Fortunately (not unfortanately[sic]) perfection is not needed or expected by most people, when someone is simply trying to bring people's attention to a societal problem.

Posted by: mags on February 14, 2006 12:46 AM

TV causes ADD? Not the most intelligent thing I've read here, but I can understand why it's an easy scapegoat.

Posted by: liebowriter on February 14, 2006 11:42 AM

A recent US study was published and reported on in the Sydney Morning Herald (www.smh.com.au) and correlated with evidence from a similar study from the UK that whilst watching of television, which included video games, the frontal lobe shuts off completely. Apparently prior to these two studies, researchers thought that video games were actually stimulating.
As a parent, I can confirm that video games make children somewhat aggressive and restless after more than 45 minutes play and do nothing to tune fine motor skills, which are essential if you plan on using a knife and fork, screwdriver or - gasp! - pen in your life.
People are dumber and TV is at the forefront of this phenomenon. Thirty years ago, every math student knew how to use a slide rule. Imagine if the world were blown up and no electronic gadgets were left - there'd be no-one around that could build anything because we rely so heavily on mechanical brains (calculators in this case) to work for us. Sorry - people in the third world could probably help us out since they can't afford technology. Thank goodness for poverty!

Posted by: stellabrate on February 14, 2006 7:03 PM