TV health hazards?

Question

I've just read the yahoo news article on health hazards TV can cause. If you havn't read it here's part of it:

:: Early childhood television viewing may be a trigger for autism.
:: Permanent eyesight damage has been strongly linked to TV watching.
:: Viewing TV may be a bigger factor in causing obesity than diet or exercise.
:: The risk of developing Alzheimer's disease increases with each extra daily hour of television viewing among people aged 20 to 60.
:: TV viewing is associated with irregular sleeping patterns among infants and toddlers.
:: Watching television significantly increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

After reading this I was shocked. Surely not all of this can be true. Watching too much TV can cause irregular sleeping patterns, can cause eye cancer and can also, through lack of excercise, lead to obesity but I don't see how it can also trigger autism, increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and type 2 diabetes.

Any answers?

Answer 1

its just the latest in a long line of studies produced by people with to much time on there hands. not that i disagree with all of it but next week there will be another study telling us that reading a book makes you obese due to lack of exercise and that it can damage your eyesight. the week after that another to say that exercise can be dangerous in case you pull a muscle!!!

Answer 2

If u read the article completely, it says that this i a claim made based on a survey of 35 people! Also, with the obesity and diabetes counts, these are probably those people who vegetate in front of the TV and eat loads of sugar and do no exercise. There is no strongevidence that watching TV can cause eye cancer, unless again the person is sitting there for hours in dim light straining their eyes.

With alzheimers and autism, both of these conditions can be caused by little or no human interaction. TV may also reduce the mental power of people who watch it too regularly, but it seems that all of these factors seem to be attributed to watching TV, when it seems that what they are doing whilst watching the TV is causing the problem.

In conclusion, as long as you watch TV from a good distance and in a well lit room, do not just sit there and eat, and do a little exercise and have a social life, there is little to worry about.

Answer 3

If you notice, several of the things you listed are connected.

If a kid is sitting in front of the TV all day, she is not getting exercise, there fore is likely to be obese
- is at a great risk of developing diabetes.
- and is likely not not be tired enough to go to sleep at night

The "study" linking autism to TV viewing is laughable, from a scientific perspective. I could use the same (flawed) logic to conclude rap music caused the increase in autism!

Rap music had become a commercially popular music genre and began to enter the American mainstream in the early 80's just as autism rates started to climb. As much as I'd love to, I can't pretend rap music caused autism. The point? Just because one thing starts to rise just as another starts to rise, does NOT mean one caused the other.

I must admit that one of the worse things you can do for an autistic child is to sit him in front of the TV all day! But that is a big difference from TV 'causing" autism.


TV doesn't directly cause much of anything bad, but it can help start a "domino effect" that can lead to obesity, bad posture, poor verbal skills, poor coordination, diabetes, depression, and anything else you could attribute to lack of exercise & ilsolating yourself from the real world.

Answer 4

As I get older I become less and less enamoured with TV, I remember when I was a kid, having a few good quality programmes to watch. However, in the last 5 years it seems as if TV has become a tranquiliser, sitting in the living room ready to numb your brain and dumb the nation down. I think that is the largest health risk, we have produced a generation of obese idiots. There is a quote from Roman times, (can't remember where from) about how to keep the people happy. "Give them bread and Circuses" In other words, keep them fed and entertained and they won't ask questions. Is "Big Celeb Love Island Brother" really that far removed from the gladiators battling for their lives at the Coliseum? I'm very close to getting rid of our TV altogether...it's only "Lost" that keeps it in my house at the moment.

Answer 5

I think it's about the most outrageously ridiculous piece of reporting I've seen in a very long time. I'd like to see the reports and studies on which these statements are based.
Talk about scaremongering...

Answer 6

Groucho Marx said that television was very educational, every time someone turns on the TV I go in the other room and read a book!

Answer 7

none of that's shocking except for the thing about autism. obviously you can get fat but that's because you're sitting and eating. your eyesight could get ruined because you're just sitting too close. also, parents nowadays are too lazy to take care of their kids so they use a tv to babysit them. which is incredibly sad.

Answer 8

I think they are going overboard on this. I would really like to see the proof of it all. They just want to blame everything that happens in the world on tv and video games. I get sick of hearing about it.

Answer 9

you forgot the bit about dropping a TV on someones head from a great height may cause a slight headache.