Mothers have known for a long time that too much television watching can be harmful to their children. But then the TV is also a wonderful babysitter, keeping the kid distracted while the mother can get busy with other things. Paediatricians are now saying that television — and DVDs and other media such as interactive screens and tablets — can have negative effects on their infants, especially those under two years. At the very least, there is no positive impact, even of those “educational” programmes.
This can be not so good news for those parents who have been investing in playing classical music to a sleeping child and showing those Baby Einstein videos in the hope that something worthwhile will get into its head (and presumably give it that extra edge during college admissions).
There is as much common sense as serious research in this observation, since constantly beaming images can muddle up the tot’s mind. They can’t register anything that is being shown. But fond parents who want their progeny to grow up and become a genius like to get an early start. Often, the TV may just be constantly playing in the background while a child plays. All this, doctors now assert, is not good for the developing brain. So don’t let your infant crawl up to that TV — it isn’t known as the idiot box for nothing!