Bunk science: children and TV

While I'm ranting about how the media is so quick to endorse bad science (see Chewing gum and memory below), something ought to be said about all the publicity given that recent study correlating TV-watching and attention deficits in children. Of all the newspapers I saw, it was only the NY Times (lost the link, sorry) that noted, in the last couple of paragraphs, that other scientists were critical of key aspects of the study -- most notably, that no causality was proven, just correlation. Even so, the Times article up to that point (and including the headline) was a straightforward report of the study's conclusions -- rather inconsistent, to say the least, and certainly not what would have been done had those conclusions not been so congenial to editorial preconceptions. Imagine, if you will, a study correlating race and intelligence: do you think many newspapers would simply report its conclusions, leaving any mention of disagreement to the very end? You can be sure the study's flaws would be highlighted from the headlines down; why not the same treatment here?

Now I'm no fan of parking little kids in front of the TV for hours on end, but it's important not to overreact and assume TV is inherently harmful. When one reads about 3-year-olds who watch several hours a day, it should be obvious that something is wrong beyond the watching itself. It's easier to blame the watching, though, instead of getting to grips with that something, whatever it may be -- whether parental indifference or children already having difficulties engaging with the real world.

Posted by David on April 26, 2004 6:15 PM