A One-Eyed Invader in the Bedroom

re: A One-Eyed Invader in the Bedroom

lillyfamily — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:11:17 GMT

My second child watched a significant amount of TV between the ages of 1 and 2. She had been saying a few words, and happy, but she became withdrawn, and stopped saying new words, then stopped saying the old ones, then stopped babbling entirely.

It took us a long time to get the situation sorted out: 3 years of speech therapy, no TV in the house, EEGs, but it turns out that she now has a rare condition called Benign Rolandic Epilepsy. She has petit mal seizures every single day. She is supposed to grow out of it by puberty.

There is no history of epilepsy anywhere in the family. And she was developing normally before her TV exposure.

But here's the clincher: Until she turned 6, if she was in a room with a TV (or computer) that was on and she was seated in a relaxed position, she would "turn off": her muscles would all go completely slack, she would develop a line of spittle connecting her chin to her shirt, and you could wave your hands in front of her face without generating a response. If we were at a restaurant, the food would fall out of her face. The only solution was to physically remove her from the capturing flicker of the TV; and then it would take her 15 minutes before she could put together words into sentences.

She always looked like a couch potato in front of the TV; her brain was actually OFF.

I am surprised that seizures (both petit and grand mal) were not listed in the conditions caused by TV screens above.

re: A One-Eyed Invader in the Bedroom

indakneeshin — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:58:19 GMT

i have one in my bedroom and all that stuff is wrong. the opposite actually happened

re: A One-Eyed Invader in the Bedroom

ghina — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:36:37 GMT

Kids are smart, but not as smart as parental controls. I have cable with lots of channels and parental control set so that EVERY show requires a pin. Pain in the but for me, but it means my kid can't get around my screen restrictions since I have to be there to enter it every time. But he only gets an hour so that's not that often.

For the computer you can also put in parental controls.

Very Mean Mom

re: A One-Eyed Invader in the Bedroom

Boesman — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:16:12 GMT

I found an article many years ago on the net that related the results of a Congressional study into the effects of television radiation on mammals, but I have not been able to find this article again - anybode else seen it?

As I recall the facts from this article:

- the research was done in the 50's maybe 60's

- the researcher placed a cage with hamsters in front of a television with a cardboard sheet inbetween to block all light but allow other forms of radiation

- the hamsters' activity levels rose to frantic levels (running around pointlessly, increased copulation) for a period (two weeks?), then led to complete collapse of their activity levels

- the effect was attributed to overstimulation and eventual collapse of their "oculo-endocrine systems"

I would LOVE to get hold of this article and references again. It clearly and candidly demonstrated the deleterious effects of television exposure per se, regardless of the programming content.

My twin sons (now 18) grew up without any television at all in our house. Fortunately I had placed them in a Waldorf (Steiner) school which supported parents in a no-TV poilcy for under-7's. By the time they reached that age we realised that we could well do without tv forever. In fact, I'd be hard pressed to find time for tv.

If you can't think what you'd do without tv then that should already be quite alarming - how could you have so completely forgotten your Self and your imagination? The world is a much richer and more human place without television. Try it - you won't look back!

re: A One-Eyed Invader in the Bedroom

jacqueline.newing — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:52:17 GMT

Anybody know where I can purchase one of those limiter things to control the amount of TV watched? Or even what to call them when I go looking for one?! I don't feel I can make the children go "cold turkey" on the tv, but a way of controlling the time spent sounds a great first step.

re: A One-Eyed Invader in the Bedroom

Dr. A — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 08:07:48 GMT

I disagree, I believe it all depends on what your kids are watching, if the're watching Cartoon Network where they show fast rapid nonsense cartoon then yes it would affect them, BUT if they are watching PBS Kids or Little Einstein or perhaps babys first sign videos, I believe it actually benefits their cognitive function.

re: A One-Eyed Invader in the Bedroom

Bad Science — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 06:44:01 GMT

The information by the two authors listed by Dorje, is similarly good because our brains being our bodies electrically wired source are led by way of our eyes to cause us to be temporarily mesmerized, or held in awe at what we see. It can also cause us to have pain or fear depending on what we see. This would be absent in the blind. Similarly the deaf would not have injury from what malice they do not hear.

TheChildrenofCyclops... by Keith Buzzell, D.O.

BoysAdrift by Leonard Sax, M.D

re: A One-Eyed Invader in the Bedroom

Bad Science — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 06:30:49 GMT

Dr. Mercola's information is well founded, because that is how the brain works. Which is why children often act like they are oblivious to what is said, because they are in a self induced state of temporay autism after being brainwashed by the perpectual stream of information from electronic sources that never run out of information. No wonder turning off the tv, ect causes a state of confusion in the children's brains when they encounter the static state of reality. Yes children can take in a vast array of information, but if taken in constantly in a steady stream it can cause a state of irritating deslexic type aggitation with their otherwise real static enviroment. That could lead to real boredom. Duh! You would fall all over yourself and complain to, if you were, for exagerated example, trying to run a marathon in the dark and someone in your enviroment kept yelling watchout, turn on the light. It would sort of be like reading the words BLUE and Black and actually seeing ORANGE or GREEN instead. How agravating is that.

re: A One-Eyed Invader in the Bedroom

Hawke — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 01:16:07 GMT

Thanks for all information.

re: A One-Eyed Invader in the Bedroom

Hawke — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 01:15:07 GMT

You have a lot of helpful and useful articles.

re: A One-Eyed Invader in the Bedroom

Kevin Champagne — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:30:02 GMT

"Allowing children under 3 to watch television has been found to impair their linguistic and social development, and also put them at risk of health problems including attention-deficit disorder, autism and obesity."

What????

Where the hell is this coming from?

I don't think children should watch a lot of TV but linking this to Autism is a bit of stretch......isn't it?

re: A One-Eyed Invader in the Bedroom

bud2587 — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 20:53:55 GMT

Any parent that is manipulated by their children into having a TV in their bedroom is negligent of their needs. or just plain stupid. If the facts were known there is no doubt a parallel betwen school failure and studying in an atmosphere of distraction. Unfortunately, the same goes for their personal computers away from the scrutiny of parents.

re: A One-Eyed Invader in the Bedroom

swshrs — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 15:33:08 GMT

Does anyone know about what to do if a child has been overexposed to tv since birth? I know a three year old boy that is extremely hyperactive with a short attention span (except when he's in front of a tv) and he's been around a tv since he was born (his mom is a work-at-home mom and the tv is always on the Noggin cartoon channel). Could the mom go "cold turkey" and get rid of the tube and see an improvement in her son's behavior? Obviously it couldn't hurt to try, but I didn't know if any actual studies have been done on reversing the damage (removing the tv).

re: A One-Eyed Invader in the Bedroom

ausauthor — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 15:32:08 GMT

My oldest child is almost 30, my youngest only 7 so I have seen many 'parenting trends' over the years. My children have NEVER been allowed to watch tv before school (not even when they're ready early) and ALWAYS read books at bedtime. Even when tiny I would read to them at bed time. As youngsters, I would always agree to reading 'two pages' of a book. If my time is limited, I can escape after just two pages ... but generally I say the story is so exciting we'll simply have to read a few more. (Sometimes a chapter, sometimes the whole book.) The excitement is always contagious. At reading age, they can negotiate more pages at bedtime by reading to me first. Read me six pages and I'll read six in return.

Interestingly, each of my children have found learning very easy and have been placed in 'academic extension' programs - in different schools in different parts of the country. (We've moved a lot in 30 years.) And because I've also had foster children I've had a chance to see the huge difference in performance at school when their morning tv habit was broken. The children themselves have commented on it.

As they get older I make sure there's always fresh batteries in bedside torches so they won't strain their eyes while reading under the covers. (It's one of my fondest childhood memories and because kids get a great sense of achievement when they manage to 'sneak' a few extra pages I pretend I don't notice unless they're reading for too long.)

Here's another tip for limiting your children's tv viewing. We have a tv outdoors on an undercover deck area - where there's no danger of moisture. If the children want to watch tv during the day, I send them to the outdoor tv. Not sure whether it's because it's harder to view the picture in the daylight or because there's so many other distractions outdoors but invariably they're engaged in a much healthier activity within about 10 to 15 minutes. A strategically placed skipping rope works wonders!

re: A One-Eyed Invader in the Bedroom

LoriSmi — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 12:30:58 GMT

I never allowed my kids to have a TV in the bedroom and we didn't have one in our bedroom. My husband wanted one in the bedroom (when we first got married) and I put my foot down and wouldn't allow it, that was 25 years ago...

I know many people who have TV's on 24/7 and it drives me crazy. Me? I like the radio much better and listen to it while driving as I enjoy talk radio most of the time. I do listen to music sometimes, too. But I rarely listen to the radio in the house as there is usually too much going on.

TV is often like a drug as it is used to keep people's minds busy and occupied so they do not have to think, which I think is a cop out. How is life so hard that you can't deal with it? Everyone has had hard times in life, me included, but if you are afraid to face it, then go get help, don't just hide your emotions in the TV.

I try to keep TV usage to a minimum, mainly because the crap on TV that is fed to us as "entertainment" is trashy and unsavory, which I refuse to watch. I also have other things I would prefer to do, including talking and communicating with my family.

We have never had cable TV as I refuse to pay to watch TV (though I already pay for it through electricity). I am amazed that people think they cannot live without TV and must pay $600 or more a year just to watch TV. This is crazy to me.

Lori