Quote:

---

Originally posted by ilovefirefly:
There are some people who are trying to get rid of television and aren't looking at the facts

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by ilovefirefly:
They think that television is lowering childerens grades

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by ilovefirefly:
They think that television is lowering childerens grades

---

Quote:

---

Research published earlier this week, suggests that children who watch a lot of television and have a set in their bedroom, do significantly worse at school and are less likely to reach university.


Dr Thomas Robinson, who led research at Stanford University said that by putting a television set in a child’s room ‘parents are giving up any control over how much and what their children are watching. They have no idea if they are watching all night, or if they are watching violent or sexually explicit content, or content or advertising that promotes alcohol or drug use.’

---

Quote:

---

For Imperial Valley residents interested in the education of youngsters, recent research has found too much television and video games have a negative effect on children’s school work.

Dr. Iman Sharif of the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in the Bronx, N.Y., has completed a study seeing the effect extensive use of both TV and video games has had on middle school students in Vermont and New Hampshire.

---

Quote:

---

Relationship of Physical Activity and Television Watching with Body Weight and Level of Fatness Among Children

Ross E. Andersen, PhD; Carlos J. Crespo, DrPH, MS; Susan J. Bartlett, PhD; Lawrence J. Cheskin, MD; Michael Pratt, MD, MPH

From the Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 279, No. 12, March 1998.

Direct Quotes

"Increasingly, leisure time activities are more sedentary, with television watching, video games, and personal computing among the most popular pastimes."

"Because a sedentary lifestyle is considered a risk factor for coronary artery disease. Parents and health care professionals need to encourage adolescent females in particular to maintain active lifestyles throughout adolescence."

"Children who watched more television and were less likely to participate in vigorous activity tended to have higher BMIs [body mass index]."

"Moreover, repeated exposure to television commercials for food may prompt children to increase food consumption, which ultimately leads to weight gain."

---

Quote:

---

Larry A. Tucker, PhD; Glenn M. Friedman, MD

American Journal of Public Health, Volume 79, No. 4, 1989.

DIRECT QUOTES

"The present findings indicate that duration of daily television viewing is strongly associated with obesity and super-obesity in adult males, as in children."

"...Non-obese men... prefer other pastimes, since most leisure activities require more physical exertion than television watching."

"The findings of this study and other recent research show that the impact of television on the lifestyles and health of Americans cannot be ignored."

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by ilovefirefly:
There are some people who are trying to get rid of television and aren't looking at the facts

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Causal:
FMF, I don't totally disagree with you on the curriculum thing; but I can't say I agree with your reasoning.

I post research--not opinion, mind you--that links television and video game consumption with falling grades and obesity. You say, yeah right, then why'd my kids do so good? You say, it's the curriculum to blame. But on that kind of reasoning, I can just as easily come right back and say, Oh yeah, then how did my siblings and I get straight A's?

So let's all just take a breath a moment. ILOVEFIREFLY has a valid point to be made, and I think it's this: the TV Turnoff folks are a little alarmist. But I think that the experts have a valid point, too: excessive television contributes to poor scholarship and obesity (and by the by, both the obesity issue and the scholarship issue were addressed in my citations).

Basically, I think the problem of argumentation in this thread is this: there is no one problem. There are multiple ones. Take my sister: she was a middle school math teacher. She had a student failing her course. Student's mother calls up and reams my sister for failing her kid (in such an ugly way that she makes my sister cry). Then the student's mother starts circulating a story about how my sister is involved in inappropriate sexual relationships with the students (complete lies). The principle (thank God) stands behind his teacher, but it took the better part of a year to get the thing figured out (and the poor thing just quit after that--too traumatic). So maybe instead of curriculum or TV the real problem is that parents take their kids' word over the teacher's and don't push them or supervise their schooling. Or maybe it's money--the teachers don't make enough money so that has to be why the kids are doing so poor--teaching doesn't attract enough people because the money's so bad. Or maybe it's federal funding to the schools--you get my point. It's not a simple-solution issue, and I think we'll all be better served to address the issue with some clarity. Contra to ILFF, there are scientific studies linking TV to poor grades. So he's not totally right in saying that TV has no impact. In addition, you've got a good point in critiquing the curriculum. But jeez-mony-christmas. What's with all the snark and meanness?

*whew*

/ Rant

Gotta go put this damned soapbox away now...

________________________________________________________________________
Grand High Poobah of the Mythical Land of Iowa, and Keeper of State Secrets

Captain, FFF.net Grammar Police

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by FutureMrsFIllion:
...it urks the hell out of me when people blame things on everything except where it belongs - on themselves. Biggest problem in this country? No Personal Responsibility. "The buck stops everywhere else but here" should be the USA motto.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by ilovefirefly:
Different medical reports contradict each other i once read something that said that video games lowered your heart rate but due to my science experiment work ive found that the person actually has a heavy increase on the really violent games and action-based ones

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by ilovefirefly:
There are some people who are trying to get rid of television and aren't looking at the facts

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by ilovefirefly:
My estimated IQ is in the mensa range and ive been watching television since i was young

---

Quote:

---

Snarky snark snark - cause it urks the hell out of me when people blame things on everything except where it belongs - on themselves. Biggest problem in this country? No Personal Responsibility. "The buck stops everywhere else but here" should be the USA motto.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Malbadinlatin:
Sooooooooooooo True! Americans are so spoiled. We are all so good at finding someone to demonize, then blame them for eveything till they're no longer demons. Like communists in the 50's-80's, now we have Islam. Anyway, I couldn't agree more

---