The main occupation of children and young people is the television and the computer. But the “television” is also harmful to older people. Experts warn of the devastating consequences for health and society.
On average, children and young people spend their whole time 3.5 hours in front of the TV and 2 hours in front of the computer – and the daily!
An excerpt from a lecture by brain researcher Prof. Dr. dr Manfred Spitzer on the effects of increasing media consumption on children and young people.
Prof. Dr. dr Manfred Spitzer is Medical Director of the Psychiatric University Clinic in Ulm and head of the Transfer Center for Neuroscience and Learning.
“If we just let this media consumption, which is littering the heads of the next generation, continue like this, then we will sew the T-shirts for China in 20 years”
By the way: If you are interested in such information, then you should definitely request my free practice newsletter “Independent. Naturally. clear edge.” to:
On this subject, Prof. Dr. dr Manfred Spitzer also gave a detailed lecture:
“Digital dementia” in the age of new media – Prof. Dr. dr Spitzer visits Louisenlund
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LftI9pYDg7I
Manfred Spitzer points out the consequences of the young people’s long “monitor time”. They become passive as they get used to the lack of exercise and gain weight. This leads to deficits in learning, the level of education in society decreases, which also worsens the social and economic situation of a country. As evidence, Spitzer cites a New Zealand study and the Pisa study.
According to Spitzer, the consequences of constantly consumed depictions of violence are even more worrying. A person today at the age of 18 has watched 200,000 times on television how someone is being violently treated. Conflict resolutions without the use of violence only appear in 4% of all films. And half of all acts of violence shown do not bother the victims at all. From this, the young people learn that violence is a normal means in a social context.
Spitzer has made himself unpopular by calling for a violence tax on TV shows. Another measure proposed by the expert is likely to meet with less criticism: Away from the monitor through more all-day schools and more offers for creative activities.
Seniors are the second risk group
A 2019 British study also shows the harmful effects of watching too much TV in seniors. The researchers started from the already common knowledge of what TV does to young people: learning and language disorders and antisocial behavior.
In a six-year study, the scientists wanted to find out how hours of daily television affect the brain and its performance. Andrew Steptoe and Daisy Fancourt from University College London are observing more than 3,500 people over the age of 50. They compared various parameters such as health status, mental performance and EEG at the start of the study with the results after the end of the work. The participants also provided information on the duration and frequency of their TV consumption.
It turned out that people who watched television for more than 3.5 hours a day had a poorer memory than other participants. One problem was word-finding difficulties, which also indicate deficits in understanding important information.
The scientists tried to rule out that the TV viewers showed weaker performance due to other living conditions. The researchers estimate the causal influence of such accompanying circumstances to account for around 44% of the total factors. The reason for the assumption was that higher television consumption also correlated with the pregnancy of the brain disorders. The EEG of the “frequent viewers” showed fewer alpha waves, which suggests a weaker ability to learn.
Of course, it also plays a role that a lot of television is automatically associated with a lack of exercise and leads to neglecting other activities. Anyone who goes to the theater or does something similar trains their brain much more intensively than on television. Steptoe and Fancourt therefore call for studies that research television as a risk factor for dementia (Television viewing and cognitive decline in older age: findings from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing).
By the way: If you are interested in such information, then you should definitely request my free practice newsletter “Independent. Naturally. clear edge.” to:
This post was last updated on March 23, 2023.