Hey Baby, Put Down That Remote!

Just-published research has indicated that a distressing number of American babies are becoming miniature couch potatoes and that watching a lot of TV early in life can lead to attention and behavioral problems by the teenage years. Here's a factoid that jumped out at this blogger: children who watched less than an hour of TV per day were twice as likely to go to college as those who watched three or more hours per day, even after controlling for socioeconomic status.

Research that appeared recently in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine found that 40 percent of infants under three months and 90 percent of toddlers under age two were watching television regularly. Said the author of a second study that concludes that TV watching can shorten attention spans when those babies become teenagers, "Over time it could really dumb down society."

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #45




Here are some early arrivals at our field trip to the Getty Center last Friday afternoon. Some students brought guests.
***SPECTACULAR TURNOUT Last Friday's field trip to the Getty Center drew nearly 100 students and guests, making it the best-attended field trip of the semester and one of the best-attended field trips in MC101 history. The record was a TV taping a few years back that drew 117.