Tuesday, February 20, 2007

I guess Mom knew best

“Don’t sit so close to the TV, you’ll ruin your eyes,” Mom used to say back in my childhood.

Little did she know that she was only partly right. For, according to an item in today’s newspaper, TV also raises the risk of, aside from messing up your eyes, obesity, premature puberty and yes – autism. Autism, while being a genuine affliction for those genuinely afflicted, seems to have become the new ADHD in diagnostic circles.

But, back to the evils of TV matter. Odd that the study said nothing about really terrible programming rotting the brain and destroying all critical abilities, but that’s neither here nor there.

But wait, there’s more. The study, published in the science journal Biologist, found that watching television inhibits the production of melatonin, which negatively impacts the immune system; sleep cycle, and the onset of puberty. It also causes a propensity to believe that assorted non-talents on American Idol are going to be the next best thing. Well, no, it didn’t make the latter point, but I think it should have.

Oh, and the study also deduced that older folk aren’t going to get off the hook easily if they devoted an inordinate amount of time in their youth to perusing the old cathode ray tube – and it takes as little as just one extra hour of TV a day – for TV might be a contributory cause of Alzheimer’s. Or maybe, if you watch too much TV, you’ll just give the appearance of having Alzheimer’s.

But wait, there’s still more. TV is not only associated with irregular sleeping patterns, it also significantly increases the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

The author of the study, psychologist Aric Sigman, issued a caveat against those who might see his findings as kind of ovestating the obvious and not really being worthy of a hell of a lot of attention, and suggested they are playing a foolish game. He warned that ignoring what he has found could “ultimately be responsible for the greatest health scandal of our time.” That's right, screw HIV-AIDS, malaria, rampant tuberculosis in some parts of the world, and all the other afflictions we might see as health scourges and focus (using the term advisedly) on TV.

At the end of it all, and after having found his watershed study of the evils of television – late comic Ernie Kovacs once said that television is referred to as a ‘medium’ because it’s hardly ever rare or well-done – to be even more riveting than the accompanying article pondering the increase of cancer in Tasmanian Devils, I am left with a couple of questions.

They are: 1) did Sigman watch a lot of TV in order complete his study? And 2), does watching very little TV lead to excessive outpourings of ego over simplistic findings? Just wondering.

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9 Comments:

Blogger Janice Thomson said...

Good one Ian! It seems there are all kinds of "new" scientific findings about one thing or another. I really like peanut butter and I am sure if I ate a ton of it there certainly will be consequences...so really the gist of any finding is to be moderate in the use of anything be it peanut butter or TV!
Would love to know the answers to your questions- LOL

8:45 AM  
Blogger Christina_the_wench said...

Next you'll be telling us that playing your music too loud can ruin your hearing! Tsk!

8:57 AM  
Blogger djn said...

If it weren't for "Lost" and "Dexter", I could walk away from that damn tv and not miss it. We often have the tv on for background noise and for the occasional opportunity to poke fun of someone who doesn't have feelings if they can't hear us. News is no longer news and reality is no longer reality. It's all a bunch of bunk...

Great post. Good things to think about.

9:43 AM  
Blogger Tai said...

I haven't watched any tv in four months.

But that doesn't mean I'm better off.
For instance, I'm pretty sure that I'm missing out on SOMETHING. After all, billions and billions of dollars are poured into tv programs each year.
So there's gotta be something good on, right? RIGHT?!?
(If you need me, I'll be in the corner with my book.)

10:26 AM  
Blogger Jazz said...

Study schmudy....

Obviously if you sit in front of the boob tube all day it's not going to do you any good. Any more than (as Janice said) eating peanut butter exclusively.

It doesn't take a genius to realize that abuse of any substance is bad...

Why do they always spend years doing these studies which come to conclusions that, given a modicum of common sense, any idjit off the street could come to in 30 seconds flat?

11:13 AM  
Blogger Big Brother said...

Sounds a lot like the chicken little syndrome. I'm not a big fan of TV (like a good book better) but TV isn't the end of the world. I still watch some programs from time to time (mostly documentaries, love History TV, PBS and Discovery) and I'm not dead yet. Anyhow, surveys show that there are less young people watching TV, they're all sitting in front of their computers. ;o)

11:14 AM  
Blogger sally in norfolk said...

I dont have time to watch TV As I spend all my free time on my pc reading all these new blogs I keep linking too :-)

2:43 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

By next year, thry'll probably change their minds, and say it's good for you. You never know. I say get a conviction about something and stick to it no matter what the so-called "studies" say!
Nice post!

8:05 PM  
Blogger Jazz said...

It's the 21st now. Happy Birthday Ian!!!!

9:51 AM  

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