Spongebob Squarepants are bad for the brains

Pic: What?! No TV for me?!!


As has long a suspect, the television is indeed an idiot box. Research has shown in a new study in the Journal of Pediatrics says that cartoons like SpongeBob SquarePants have a detrimental effect on 4-year-old kids. Researchers divided kids into three groups: one group of children watched Caillou, a slower-themed show on public television, the second group was given crayons and paper to draw with, while the third watched SpongeBob. Afterward, the group who watched the yellow square guy wasn’t able to follow rules as well or to delay gratification as easily. (Interestingly, the group of kids who watched Caillou and the group who drew pictures performed at pretty much the same level.)

Does this shock any us who were were once young kids? No surprise that four year olds are affected by the amped-up pacing and crazy antics of the characters.

The reason for this? The researchers concluded that fast-paced programs over-stimulate young kids’ brains. Watching these cartoons makes it harder to employ executive function in the brain, the process used to complete tasks. In addition, children “may mimic” characters afterward. (I love the use of the word “may” here. Um, yes, they may do that…and they may do it for hours on end until you want to scream.)

This doesn't mean that SpongeBob is bad or that kids should never be allowed to watch it, by any means. But it all comes down to knowing your child and seeing how shows on TV affect him or her. Many parents didn’t allow our son to watch SpongeBob when he was younger — not because we were opposed to it, but because he acted like the characters from the show after watching it. A worried parent, Bob, says, "His 4 year old son's behavior was so crazy it made us crazy, and we knew that it wasn’t doing him any favors, either, so we set some firm limits around that cartoon and others like it. (We also didn’t let him drink coffee, eat cotton candy for breakfast, or stay up until 1 a.m. — all things he begged to be able to do — pretty much for the same reasons.)

Bob says now that he’s 8, it luckily doesn’t have quite the same effect, but I still think cartoons are best watched in small doses.

Verdict
Now its scientifically proven that TV addiction is bad for mental development and for that matter your pursuit of ACCA. So throw that idiot box away and focus on REAL mental development, your pursuit of your study course. Elevate your prowess and mental agility.




Sources:
http://technorati.com/lifestyle/family/article/is-spongebob-bad-for-kids/#ixzz1XzEQGeZl
TheStar, 2011, Spongebob is bad for kids, 13 Sept