Yet another article stresses the harmful effect of television on little children. How is this article different from the rest? It examines various studies all over the world, all of which, unfortunately, indicate that TV watching has more bad then good for the little children:

Professor Christakis’ extensive review looked at 78 studies published over the last 25 years and reiterates the findings of numerous studies he has carried out with colleagues into this specialist area.

It is easy to get the kids distracted by a “virtual nanny” – the big screen – while stressed out mom is trying to get the housework complete, or just to get some rest. Yet, despite the claims of numerous so-called educational DVD producers, the “virtual nanny” doesn’t double up as the good resource for baby’s development:

A leading child expert is warning parents to limit the amount of television children watch before the age of two, after an extensive review published in the January issue of Acta Paediatrica showed that it can do more harm than good to their ongoing development.

The results of these studies are take seriously enough for some countries’ governments to take measures against babies’ TV watching:

France has already taken the matter so seriously that in summer 2008 the Government introduced tough new rules to protect the health and development of children under three from the adverse effects of TV.

What are the harmful effects of the TV?

• Watching TV programmes or DVDs aimed at infants can actually delay language development, according to a number of studies. For example, a 2008 Thai study published in Acta Paediatrica found that if children under 12 months watched TV for more than two hours a day they were six times more likely to have delayed language skills. Another study found that children who watched baby DVDs between seven and 16 months knew fewer words than children who did not.
• Infants as young as 14 months will imitate what they see on a TV screen, but they learn better from live presentations. For example, one study found that children learnt Mandarin Chinese better from a native speaker than they did from a video of the same speaker.
• A study of 1,300 children conducted by the author and colleagues in 2004 found a modest association between TV viewing before the age of three and attentional problems at the age of seven, after a wide range of other factors were ruled out.
• In another study, the author and colleagues looked at the effects of early TV viewing on cognitive development at school age. They found that children who had watched a lot of TV in their early years did not perform as well when they underwent tests to check their reading and memory skills.
• … and many other similarly disturbing results.

Why does the TV has such an effect? Aren’t successions of diverse images, words, sounds providing little ones with a stimulation that no single parent can? Actually, quite the opposite:

But why does television have such a negative effect on children of this age? “We believe that one reason is the fact that it exposes children to flashing lights, scene changes, quick edits and auditory cuts which may be over stimulating to developing brains” says Professor Christakis. “TV also replaces other more important and appropriate activities like playing or interacting with parents.”

Yet most of the parents, mislead by advertising, remain oblivious of TV’s harmful effects:

29 per cent of parents who took part in a survey of 1,000 American families published in 2007 said they let their infants watch TV because they thought it was “good for their brains”. But claims made by manufacturers are not substantiated by peer-reviewed medical papers and industry studies.

Read more details of this comprehensive survey at ScienceDaily: Letting Infants Watch TV Can Do More Harm Than Good.

Other related materials (you can find more links to articles if you follow the link below):
Can TV/computer be harmful or helpful for kids development?