Sesame Street versus Dr Seuss

When it comes to television, you may wonder just how harmful is

that colourful screen? Can educational programmes help a child’s

brain?

In a study of over 2,000 children aged between 1 and 3 years old,

psychologists found that for every hour of television a 1- to 3-year-

old watched, these children had a 10 per cent greater chance of

developing attention problems (such as ADHD) by the time they

were 7 years old. Psychologists also found that a toddler watch-

ing three hours of baby videos every day had a 30 per cent higher

chance of having attention problems in school.

Why? The changing images of the baby videos eventually over-

stimulate a child, causing problems to his developing brain pat-

terns. Even images that change at a slower pace cause problems to

a child’s brain development.

The consistent sounds of the television can also interfere with

the child’s development of their inner voice when they’re learn-

ing to vocalise events. At this stage, children learn to develop

their thought process, to think through things in order to respond

appropriately. Having television on as a constant backdrop in his

environment actually hinders a child from being able to develop

his inner voice, which is critical for language development.