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Switch the Brain programmer off, you know it makes sense :)
How else do you think kids are getting to think that gun totting gangsters are cool ? .......work it out :)
Maybe if the 'Powers that Be' could start using common sense and put criminals of violence (all types) behind bars where they couldn't reach our children and vulnerable groups, then we could let our 'curious fledglings' explore their world outside of their own four walls, play football, climb trees 'guddle' for fish in the burns and be heroes in their own private universe while the older generations (who are becoming ever more prolific) could keep a watchful eye as they walk their dogs or just sit in the park for an hour or two knowing that their houses were secure while they were out and their lives and wallets safely with them. It might even be that these same youngsters were so busy enjoying just being children that they would miss all the sexplotation aimed at them via the media in a society where 'everything has a price and nothing has a value'. That is of course, assuming that there are still some free areas which are not over-built on by supermarkets or private ghetto housing developers. Ask anyone over 60 years of age if this system works and really listen to what they will tell you. Before you remind me that time has moved on, remember the Valdor Gangs existed then too, so did drugs and alcohol it was just that they were out-numbered by decent caring people... before the days of the PC brigade.... that, and a police force that had the power they required to do their job.
We cant keep blaiming T.V. on its own! What do you want to do,dig up John Logie an slap him around a bit! Lets bring our censorship laws up to date with our children! If you cant work out whats fit for your own children,someone will have to do it for you!
Comment@8 Sinnermam, hi mate......Anyone that watches TV is being brainwashed........and they have to pay a licence for the experience LOL
I take it that Media1 has no children
This is so bad it gives 'junk science' a bad name.
This is the same Dr, who previously looked at tv metadata and made strong findings, despite an abundance of previous data showing TV leads to language and speech development in children.
This is the same Dr, who previously said that telling white lies is ok.
He just happens to be a public speaker, broadcaster, and pop psychologist, looking to make a name for himself with free publicity.
Good job Scotsman for giving him a pulpit to spread his crap.
TV is wonderful and this so-called "scientist" is just trying to get himself noticed.If there was no TV , there would be no Jeremy Kyle Show and that is unthinkable!
Switch off the TV NOW.
Shut down the internet.
Stop listening to anyone else!!
That way you can't hear or see the lies{truth}.
Can’t stop me nowHere what I sayMy teevee's got to go soGet outta my wayI’m gonna have my sayI’m goin’ to throw it outCos I’m not taking the blameIt's such real big shame
Oh shame, shame, shameShame on TVIt's the cause of life's illsAnd I sayShame, shame, shame, shameShame, shame, shameShame on TVI've had quite enough you see
My eyesight's so poorAttention span's goneAnd it's cos teeveeIs always switched onMy hormones have flippedAnd my brain growth is slowI forget lots of thingsSo the teevee must go
Just don't end up like meEvery day on my couch Obese with the grease Running from my mouthMy body needs actionAnd I ain’t gonna blow itOh yes, I’m going outAnd find a dancin’ manAnd if you really thinkYou’re fast enoughTry to catch me if you can
Shame, shame, shameShame, shame, shameShame on youIf you watch teevee tooAnd I saidShame, shame, shameShame, shame, shameShame on youIf you watch teevee too
*Adapted from "Shame, Shame, Shame" by Atomic Kitten and the fabulous Lulu!
labour say We wont get eastenders etc etc if we vote SNP ,Thanks labour ,I certainly know who im voting ,
Don't need telly - have got on fine without it for nearly 20 years. Even without having it, I know what's going on because everybody talks so much about it and it's in the news, etc, the point being that we should not underestimate the influence it has on society, sadly.
(I have 2 intelligent, well-behaved, talented, articulate children)
A scientistsays so it must be correct!!!! Haaa, they've got it wrong so many times why should we believe any of it. Perhaps he just wants to get his paper published, which seems to be the main thrust of what these self publicising people want.Scarramouche... another triumph, well done mate
A wee bit of remedial vegetation never did anyone any harm. Besidea which as the father of a young child Sarah Jane of Tikabila is the highlight of my day.
What about Piles, surely we could pin that on TV too.
Much more likely than the bizarre extrapolation that is causes diabetes.
Media 1 at #10 - it's 'pastime' not 'past time'.
One thing about brain damage is you don't know you've got it, because you need a working brain to realise it. That's why drug addicts in the throes think their world is always fabulous.
While scepticism is a natural and healthy response to what appear to be outrageous claims, it's hard to be taken as a credible critic of a book that one has not actually read.
It's also natural to ridicule any research that tells us things we don't want to hear. There's plenty of wheezing smokers out there who'll swear on a stack of bibles that "smoking never done me no harm."
I have worked as an educator for over 30 years and have observed many of the adverse cognitive and behavioural symptoms in children that Dr Sigman alleges are attributable to the negative effects of watching too much television. One of the most prevalent of these is the 'designer disease' ADHD, unheard of when I was a child.
I strongly recommend that before slanging off at the guy, you do as I did and buy a copy of Dr Sigman's book "Remotely Controlled" and actually read it. It comes across as a soundly written, albeit somewhat sensationalist work with many detailed footnotes and references that check out. If after reading it and checking out his claims you still think it's baloney and you have superior evidence to support your contrary claims, I for one will be intensely interested to hear about your research.
http://platosway.blogspot.com
It's just one part of a large problem:
i) The government should be investing in afterschool activities in every community. Kids shouldn't have time to watch tv or hang about on street corners.
ii) As long as both parents have to go out and work full time to provide for their families, we're going to experience many problems with kid in society.
iii) The ferral kids problem (i.e. kids out in the streets beating roe deer to death) has to be hit hard. Irresponsible parents aren't being punished and this is just sending out the wrong message.
iv) The absent fathers problem has to be addressed. This starts with better education in schools as the message isn't getting through at the moment.
v) TV content providers need to take a greater responsibility and more checks should be made on the content.
PS: Check out these recent headlines in the Youth Crime section of the Scotsman. While clearly not all these crime can be blamed on TV, the depravity of some of them does make one wonder:
* Lessons in restraint of pupils (17-Feb-07)* Young thugs learn their ABCs (16-Feb-07)* Woman injured as youths snatch handbag at bus stop (16-Feb-07)* Police arrest 20 teenagers in crackdown on drink and violence (15-Feb-07)* Three teenagers arrested over vandalism spree in the Capital (13-Feb-07)* Teen joyriders caught on film locked up at last (10-Feb-07)* Four held over murder set free (09-Feb-07)* Presenter appeals for help catching thugs who mugged disabled brother (07-Feb-07)* Boy held for phone theft (07-Feb-07)* Wardens get on the buses to tackle yobbish behaviour (03-Feb-07)
#27 One of the only considered responses!
Many of the posts are very similar to the knee-jerk responses that a lot of the posters have criticised politicians and others for in other topics.
Although many of the 'conclusions' may be spurious many of the issues/problems do exist and many appear to be on the increase.
If, as suggested by disagreeing posters, the links are tenuous or even wrong what is needed is more research to refute the hypotheses not simply making equally uninformed statements.
If the conclusions are not science the responses are equally not!
I recently found BabyTV on channel 626 on SKY. I used it with my kids and I think it is a wonderful channel for them. They definately dont look like couch potatoes watching it. I think it is unfair to let this guy try to make parents feel for no true scientific reason
Surley this artical should be renamed: "Sitting on your butt doing nothing 'is linked to cancer, autism, dementia'" ?
Is the Scotsman now Scotlands homegrown version of the Sun?
Lived most of my life without TV and never missed it. But I do have piles, so no tie in there; based on a survey of one.My children grew up happy and have made a good life for themselves without TV. We did things together out and about in the country or the town and I have a host of happy memorys of these times and they do too.TV, to me is a series of snippets fed to you by the director, there is little chance to mull over or ponder on a point. Whereas reading a book allows you to pause and consider.Even people defending TV must think so many programmes appalling jejune. Don't you ever get up from your chair and think that was awful junk and a waste of time?Ever heard this?Call Now! Call Now, (Premium rate line) you could win £1000.Ugh!
27/30
Sound thinking! But I must say that empirically, the effects of TV on my four children and 12 grandchildren (one now sadly deceased) leads me to suspect that Dr Sigman's findings may be less 'unscientific' than many commenters are prepared to admit. I recognise much of the phenomena he describes and - mea culpa.
As someone whose formative years preceded the popular TV age, I do tend to separate humanity into two sections - born before (popular) TV (BBTV and after (BATV). There was and is a profound difference, even though one must make allowances and adjustments for each individual's daily exposure to the medium. My personal conclusion - and it is of course a subjective one, is that the overall effect on homo sapiens sapiens has been overwhelmingly deleterious and much of societal breakdown in the West can be directly attributed to it. But not only is the genie too big to get back into the bottle, the bottle's broken. In the short term problems can only increase. In the long term we're all dead; me sonner than most of those reading this I suspect. Part of my remaining time will be spent reading his book. Anything to lure me away from this infernal medium, but at least this is interactive.
As you can see, his findings about myopia is proved in my comment: for 'sonner' read 'sooner'
I think this can be summed up in one word: Rubbish.
Why is it nowadays that scientists have to play with figures so much? All it does is produce meaningless results.
Let's put this in simple terms. If parents do not show enough interest in their children and do not encourage them to involve themselves in activity and do not encourage them to think for themselves, then their development will be impaired, which may cause undesireable effects later on in life.
We know that anyway. And if people don't know it, they need to make themselves aware of it. Trying to use maths to "prove" that television is the cause of all ills is both stupid and irrelevent.
4/Statsman: I remember that back in 1953 I heard a brief news report on the old BBC Light Prgramme that a doctor had written to one of the medical journals suggeting that there 'may' be a 'link' between cigarette smoking and cancer of the lung.The fact that my father died of the dreaded disease in 1951 at the age of 53 probably had a lot to do with it but I stopped smoking there and then.Don't ever shrug off lightly the suggestioons of those who carry out research. They may be proved to be right.
Less sunshine outdoors leads to less melatonin. Melatonin is an anti-oxidant & scavenger. Shortage leads to less sleep & oxoidant radical damage IN AREAS OF INDUSTRIAL AIR POLLUTION WITH PM2.5 PARTICULATES. It is the nasty PM2.5s that are causing the cancers, increased autism, heart attacks, alzheimers & other diseases on your list. Cholesterol uis NOT the direct cause of heart attacks but arise of just 10ug/m3 in PM2,5s on one day plus exercise 2 days later leads to a 800% reise in heart attacks as proven in studies published. I have the data .
This an odd article choice from The Scotsman... are the editors sleeping, or what?In the past 48 hours many other "news" sources were reporting the discovery of the genetic link to autism, one that has been suspected for at least 30 years.Poor TV, gets blamed for all the ills of the world.
arterno'n!
will the executive be banning television in public places now?
television is homogenising culture, soon there will be no difference between any two of us, we'll watch the same things, buy the same things and all look like Paul Daniels.
All the channels copy each other and so when more channels come along we get more of the same rather than more choice what is the point? They do not compete they cooperate in a cartel of crap.
TV and diabetes? Cancer? I can not belive what utter rubbish I have just read, I agree that kids should not watch to much TV, I feel its better that they are interacting with their peers or some other activity. As I look down the rather long list of so called affects of watching TV I was wondering where its going to tell me I am just going to die! Cant belive this nonsence even got to print.
that really should be carousel of crap I think and I agree that tv is bad.
Pesonally, I blame Tony "Do as I say not as I do" Blair. I mean why not he is responsible for everything else isn't he? :)
"Holy typesetting, Batman! Give the people books!"
"That's assumming they can read, Boy Wonder."
Dr Sigman is brilliant and so utterly, utterly correct. Long hours of TV and PC screens is damaging to both adults and children.
His message means less TV, not no TV.
Of course people don't want to hear it, that would mean changing their habits.
I wonder if and when people ever emerge from their hypnotic trance of TV and video games whether they will regret the years of life lost.
Junk science and garbage reporting. Absolute rubbish. Kids should watch less TV and adults should spend less time glued to the computer. That is true, but stop trying to scare people into it.
I was told that early puberty was caused by hormones in beef.
I was told cancer was caused by cellulars.
I thought obesity and heart disease were caused by a bad diet and lack of exercise.
I was told that autism is brought on by a poor diet and vitamin deficiency in pregnant mothers.
Here I thought that myopia was hereditary, silly me. It was the telly all along. Even before TV.
I thought irregular sleep patterns in children was caused by lack of consistency by parents.
I'd heard that diabetes was caused by too much sugar. My bad.
Nobody knows what the hell causes Alzheimer.
Brain growth? Open a book, play some chess, and eat fish.
Attention span??? Since when have kids had an attention span?
That said:
Jimmy Jet And His TV Setby Shel Silverstein
I'll tell you the story of Jimmy Jet --And you know what I tell you is true.He loved to watch his TV setAlmost as much as you.
He watched all day, he watched all nightTill he grew pale and lean,From "The Early Show" to "The Late Late Show"And all the shows between.
He watched till his eyes were frozen wide,And his bottom grew into his chair.And his chin turned into a tuning dial,And antennae grew out of his hair.
And his brains turned into TV tubes,And his face to a TV screen.And two knobs saying "VERT." and "HORIZ."Grew where his ears had been.
And he grew a plug that looked like a tailSo we plugged in little Jim.And now instead of him watching TVWe all sit around and watch him.
Sitting for hours, immobile, staring at a screen isn't good for you? Genius!
Hold that Nobel prize nomination...
So the science may no be precisely sound here.
What about this line of thinking on TV....Why on earth do we give so much of our cash for so little in the way of service, the preponderance of what is being offered never being utilized?
To clarify, typically one spends about $50 to $100 to pay for literally thousands of hours of service. You can't watch all the shows on all the channels. What is the value?
Of COURSE TV has physical and mental effects on people. If it didn't, why would they bother advertising? There is a LOT of interesting food for thought here.
i have four kids in my house and they are allowed to watch t.v. for one hour after dinner. a couple of hours at the weekend after they have completed their studies. why? numerous studies have shown that kids who watch inordinate amounts of t.v. do worse in school, than those who dont. the diabetes and other stuff, i dont know. plus the garbage and violence on t.v. is appalling. t.v. has no relationship to real life. here in the philippinr, you never see poverty in t.v. shows. you see maybe folks who are poor, but very happy. then go anywhere and see the squalor and deprivation. i sometimes think that these poor people have been brainwashed and deluded into thinking that their lives are just fine. t.v. is a government backed narcotic, to keep people from thinking and doing something about their lives.
The 'tv' generations are definitely the worse for it. It is not just the emotive drivel shown, it is the fact that people seem to think that it is something about which to talk.
When you add the this electronic insult to the insults of excitotoxins, deadly mercury and other neurotoxins and disrupters, you get a pretty sorry human product...creatures whose facilities cannot master critical thinking, creatures who "just want to be told what to do" (I've actually heard one say this with regard to a prospective career), and have a greater affinity to follow the dictates of what could well be discribed as the "mass mind"...or, some darker entity...such as the disgusting creatures who march to the tune of the Washington Regime or, at the very least, don't kick up a fuss about the amoral (think BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL) destructiveness of this gang.
The same parents who sit idly by while the State injects deadly mercury into the developing bodies of their children bring home the fluoridated sugar water for them to consume while they watch TV and then wonder about why they don't perform well in school, why they have behavior problems, why they are violent, why they have the so-called ADD...
Heavens to Betsy. What did people die of before they had TV?
#62 YAAAAAAWWWWWWWN.
Youa re so high and mightythat it troubles you that some people like to talk about what they watched on the TV. Have you never had a laugh with your workwmates about a comedy you have watched? Have you never had a conversation about a current affairs or new technology program?
Do you think it ok to discuss novels?
I am now 24 years old and was diagnosed with ADHD at a very young age...I have lived with the disorder for 24 years and I can tell you that it has nothing to do with television...Television is nothing but a catalyst for something that is already inbedded in your minds...The problem is that the average person is blind to this fact, and doesn't even care to look for it...It is true that television rots your mind but you also need it to keep you sane...problem is too much kills you...http://BL4CKMAMBA.bebo.comTake a look at my blog in the back you will find links to information about ADHDThe scientists don't know what they're talking about I assure you.I have said before and i repeat who would know more about a mental disorder than someone who has lived with it for nearly quarter of a century?
The journal Biologist is published by the Institute of Biology. Sigman's article isn't available yet, but it should appear at http://www.iob.org/?tree=000_006_003_001
First and foremost T.V. is one of the greatest inventions ever. and you can't completely blame people lack of living life on the tele. i would like to add that back when i was growing up in the 80's and 90's my parents wouldn't let us just sit and watch T.V for hours we had to go outside and interact with our enviroment, because they knew well before scientific reasearch showed that sitting on your butt and not getting exerscize or social interaction could only lead to bad things.
Why would anyone allow their children to sit for hours in front of a TV watching the kinda muck that is served up these days? Probably because they have more important things to do than look after their children properly.
TV is a big waste of time, read a book and get smart!
A Japanese study stated that quick action flashes and bright flashes of lights in children's TV programs promoted violent and erratic physical activity in young children. I find that the same TV camera effects make me edgy and uncomfortable. I always wonder why these findings are not compared with research in other similarly advanced countries, or at least submitted for review. Besides being a powerful influence on mores and culture because of content, the video technique itself could offer clues to ADD and AHDD. There is always the case that some children and adults could be more susceptible to effects than others.
#5 Weary Wee Wummin.........GOOD POST! That is the case on this side of the pond as well.
#69 Lex Luger....RIGHT ON!
Interesting to read other posts "in denial". Reminds me of "cigarettes do NOT cause cancer"
I am sure watching too much television is not good for you. With regard to autism the critical years for the rise in incidence were 1987 to 1992, but I doubt whether this coincides with a comparable rise in TV watching. Daytime TV was probably expanding in the early 1980s but there were alreadygood opportuties for watching wall to wall TV in the late 1960s.
My son has Autism, he is 10 years old and only now will watch tv for more than 5 mins, therefore it could not possibly have contributed to his problems. Now my big arse! noo there's a blame to be put on the telly ;-)
The only thing wrong with tv is parents who let kids have them in their bedrooms. Other than that he hasn't taken into account the educational qualities of some programmes, especially National Geographic channel and such like. My twins are only 5 but they get to see Top Gear now and again, they watch dvds and certain programmes, not so much the kiddie programmes though they like Lazytown and Boogie Beebies both of which mean a lot of jumping around and dancing. Lazytown also enforces the idea of fruit and veg as snacks or "sports candy" as that rather nice looking man with the dodgy moustache calls them.
But they don't watch all these programmes all the time, everything in moderation. And considering our lovely weather and the expense of going anywhere (£30+ to go to the zoo or watch a nature programme for free and see the animals in their natural surroundings?) It is a viable option. In the summer or if the weather is nice it is easier to let them play outside without running the risk of pneumonia.
Of course there is a difference between parents who plug their children into the tv and ones who talk about what they are watching. I know once they have watched a programme or dvd my two run off to play or draw pictures about what they have seen and always ask me questions even if I am sometime unable to answer.
Scare scare scare. Enough already, we already knew that the telly gives you square eyes and children who spend days in front of the telly risk only their personal hygeine.
Donnez nous des jeuxLes plus malsains, oh oui j'en veuxAllez enfermez-les, enfermez-lesJusqu'à c'qu'ils ne puissent plus respirerQu'on les voit mourirEjectés lynchés pour le pireLa cage au milieu du salonAime à voir les fauves tourner en rondEt se déchiqu'ter pour juste une poignée de fricRentrer dans le moule de l'AmériqueAllez saignez vous donc en musique
Donnez-nous du lisseDe la guimauve etdu réglisseDonnez de l'image à boufferPré-mâchée et pré-digéréeDonnez-nous du viceSurgelez nos vieilles idéesVive mon frigo vive ma téléIl est plus vide qu'elle est blindée
{Refrain:}Sortez-les sortez-les sortez-les poubelles!Sortez les ordures télévisuelles!Sans télé sans télé sans télé!Oh ciel!Oh non je suis accro!
Elatez les mailleMontrez qu'y a qu'la tune qui vailleNoyez-nous de publicitésEngraissez-nous jusqu'à éclaterMettez-nous les nerfsEtalez les femmes et lerus chairsBlindées des plus beaux apparatsExcitez-nous excitez nous plus que çaAmenez vos sponsorsA tout bout de champ ça pue la mortGerbez nos envies nos désirsEmpêchez-nous empêchez-nous de partir
Donnez-nous du viceBouchez les escaliers de serviceAllez séquestrez nos espritsEt souriez tout est permisTirez vers le basma télévision adore çaEt tous les meubles en sont jalouxMême mon chiotte ne est devenu fou
{au Refrain}
Donnez-nous du pireRéservez-vous pour l'avenirConservez votre mauvais goûtPour les jours où vous s'rez à boutDonnez-nous du pirePassez notre envie de réfléchirA coup de concepts débilissimesAllez crachez-nous vos millésimes
Donnez-nous des consServez les cockés ou bien rondsC'est le zoo des animateursLeur donnez pas d'bouffe c'est pas l'heureC'est l'heur
#4, statsman, if you think science is precise you are ill-informed. That is why there a such things as plus signs and minus signs and even litle plus OR minus signs and squiggly little equal signs meant to infer the idea of not quite; scientific discourse is always peppered with prases and words such as approximates, within a margin of error ... In fact, NOTHING in science is exact; that is a notion that is put forward by the boob tube, skepticism toward any science as junk no doubt was authored by neo-cons behind the Fox news network whose jealousy toward learnedness and difficult mind work continually works to erode any respect for authority in intellectual matters ... emitted to you by those same light rays. Television promotes itself in every underhanded subliminal and overt means possible; dead brains mean more viewers and more advertising dollars. Nothing is more important to the industry. Period.
"one conclusion may be more recognisable to general critics of TV - the suggestion that daytime TV and soaps virtually rot the brain."
One thing I notice when going into the likes of GPs' surgeries and other waiting rooms is that there seems to be a ubiquitous TV which is always tuned to ITV.
This channel produces the most dreadful mindnumbing rot ever conceived.
radicalreaction.com
Ha- The only thing watching T.V. Will do is keep you from doing your work and Entertain the viewers.
35 AJOops, I should've read the main thread.
61. Rulesbutnotrulers, East LothianI've read the whole article now.
-------------
Getting careless with our multiple IDs are we?
Jeenkies! that's Velma off Scooby Doo on the TV...
Stop vaccinating kids,which would reduce their mercury intake and let them build up natural immune systems.If schools would ensure all kids would get homework, which would get checked daily by teachers, then the kids wouldn't have any time to spend watching TV and playing computer games.Stop giving kids [and adults alike] toiletries and cleaning products with petrochemicals [most have got anti freeze in them...watch out on the packets..'proplyne glycol'...this is the main ingredient of anti freeze and other cancer causing additives].Then use therapeutic essential oils ,instead of pharmacytical medicine for everyday illnesses inparticular.
Then see, if kids are still as ill ,as they are these days.....
suisaidh - you obviously haven't got kids when you talk about not vaccinating children!! Nowadays children wouldn't be able to build up an immune system because times have changed....!! I would rather have my child vaccinated than have a really sick child with Mumps or a child with Tuberculosis!! Just to name a couple of the worst ones!! You have no idea - Do you!?
We are all dying from a pernicious, incurable disease called 'life'. TV is merely one of it's most unpleasant symptoms. The Grim Reaper carries the only cure. In the meantime, the only way to withstand the pain is to laugh yourself to death. Some of the commenters on this thread have already discovered that simple truth. God bless 'em! And turn the bloody thing off - particularly when anything from the BBC appears on screen.
