Pediactrician's group finds fault with Spongebob.

http://news.yahoo.com/pediatricians-group-finds-fault-spongebob-012406489.html There's something in here that pisses me off.

Oh, and by the way, My Little Pony Friendship is Magic encourages predestination in life and lack of free will.

Yeah, ridiculous bullshit like this happens embarassingly often in the media. What's worse is that people actually follow it. Mom wouldn't let me see The Incredibles as a kid since the Christian morality group she followed at the time didn't approve of it. Groan.

They have actually found a link between TV watching and autism for children under 2, so this Spongebob thing really doesn't surprise me. I'm sure it applies to any fast-paced show, but they chose SB for the study since it's well known and would make for a good news headline that people would read.

I only let my daughter watch the local newscast and 'Two & a Half Men' (yes, weird... I know). I try to turn the TV off during commercials.

SSNTails said:

I only let my daughter watch the local newscast and 'Two & a Half Men' (yes, weird... I know). I try to turn the TV off during commercials.

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Your daughter's two years old, right?

What seemed strange to me is that the article didn't even mention any details about why Spongebob is supposedly bad for children according to the study. I mean, there surely must have been something that led them to believe that. Aside from that, it's obviously silly to pick children that are younger than the show's target demographic to try and prove anything. It wouldn't even surprise me if fast-paced TV shows are indeed bad for 4-year-old kids. It's a bit like letting your 2-year-old child watch Two and a Half Men.

But it's not like anyone would do that, right?

Find another article about the study, that Yahoo one is very poor. It had to do with learning & attentiveness after viewing for 9 minutes. If you look up the TV/Austism study the findings make sense. That's why I only let her watch slow-paced sitcoms or newscasts, rather than bright fast cartoons or HEY YOU! BUY THIS THING NOWWWW!!!! commercials.

Now the CONTENT of the sitcom is another matter....

Let me just give my two cents here and agree that there are certainly some shows that seem likely to damage young children. Alarmingly often, I encounter nine-year-olds who watch Family Guy, and I think it's safe to say that show is not appropriate for that age group. As for SpongeBob, it's decidedly less harmful, but I doubt four-year-olds should be watching it.

But yeah, that article was extremely lacking. It says nothing about what the American Academy of Pediatrics is actually objecting to about SpongeBob...my view of this issue depends heavily upon what is in contention about that show. Promoting "the homosexual agenda" or "the global warming agenda" are absurd claims from people who have thoroughly established themselves as raving lunatics. I might add that those people are in no objective position to judge either, as they aren't exactly neutral parties.

Fawfulfan said:

It says nothing about what the American Academy of Pediatrics is actually objecting to about SpongeBob...my view of this issue depends heavily upon what is in contention about that show. Promoting "the homosexual agenda" or "the global warming agenda" are absurd claims from people who have thoroughly established themselves as raving lunatics. I might add that those people are in no objective position to judge either, as they aren't exactly neutral parties.

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err....WHAT?
If you look up other articles, it's very clear that the fast-pacing of the show, such as loud characters and fast scene changes affects the ability to learn and pay attention. The actual content of the show is not part of the study.

TLDR; Fast changing scenes and quick presentation of information rewires a growing brain to handle fast random bursts of information. Come back to the boring slow real world, and hellooooo ADD.

SSNTails said:

TLDR; Fast changing scenes and quick presentation of information rewires a growing brain to handle fast random bursts of information. Come back to the boring slow real world, and hellooooo ADD.

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So that's what happened to Sonic...

SSNTails said:

TLDR; Fast changing scenes and quick presentation of information rewires a growing brain to handle fast random bursts of information. Come back to the boring slow real world, and hellooooo ADD.

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Oh, this. That certainly makes sense to me, and I'm pretty sure that isn't the first study to draw this conclusion. Seems to me like Yahoo just wanted a tacky headline.

Better link:
http://www2.tbo.com/news/moms/2011/...shows-program-cause-attention-prob-ar-257001/

Kids that age are probably better off watching Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, anyway.

That's not an insult, either. That show was great.

Now really, if you don't want your children to have attention problems, you should put on Turner Classic Movies or something like that. No commercials, tons of nice, slow-paced movies. The only possible issue is that if she watches lots of black and white ones, she might dream in monochrome.