Fast-paced cartoons such as SpongeBob may be damaging your children’s brain power, according to a new study. It finds that watching television not only has negative effect on executive function of kids over the long term, but also exercises immediate impact.
Researchers find that children who watched “SpongeBob SquarePants” for 9 minutes had “significantly impaired” executive function compared to others who watched a slow-spaced PBS cartoon “Caillou” or were told to draw with markers and crayons.
After viewing cartoons or drawing for 9 minutes, 60 4-year-old children in the study received a variety of tests for executive function. While 15% of those who watched SpongeBob passed the problem-solving task, where they were asked to move disks from one peg to another, 35% of Caillou viewers and 70% of those who drew did. Another test measured the delay of gratification through how long the kids could endure before eating snacks presented in front of them. SpongeBob viewers waited about 2.5 minutes on average, while other two groups could wait at least four minutes.
Source
I wouldn't let my kids watch most cartoons like spongebob. They do nothing but stunt and mangle a kid's mental and cognitive development.
ReplyDelete