“Well-Child Exams in the Video Age: Pediatricians and the AAP Guidelines for Children’s Media Use,” is available online from D.A. Gentile. ()
Most pediatricians who responded to a recent Minnesota survey said they believe that children who spend more than two hours a day playing video games and watching television tend to be more aggressive than those who spend less time in those activities, and they are more likely to have poor eating habits and low levels of physical activity.
The survey results, released last week by the Minneapolis-based National Institute on Media and the Family, are based on a poll of 365 members of the Minnesota chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Of those surveyed, 84 percent said they believe that too much television watching has a negative effect on infants’ and preschool-age children’s brain development. And almost all the pediatricians surveyed agreed that preschoolers who watch too much television or spend too much time playing video games are more likely than other youngsters to have poor eating habits and more aggressive behavior.
