Stink'in Spongebob Squarepants

I tell you what, I would happy if this show was taken off the air. It drives me crazy. Every time it comes on, I run over to the T.V. and shut it off. My eight-year-old is allowed to watch some Nickelodeon shows. If he leaves the T.V. on when he's finished watching, Spongebob always comes on. My two-year-old even recognizes Spongebob. Good Grief! I am going to print out this study for my 2nd grader to read.

FROM NBC: While Spongebob Squarepants has been known to give some parents a headache -- a new study suggests he may also be hurting kids' brains!! New research suggests the kind of shows preschoolers are watching may be just as detrimental as how much TV they see.

Dr. Michael Rich, Center on Media and Child Health, Children's Hospital Boston: "We shouldn't just assume that because they're being quiet and in the living room, that everything is ok." the new study is a small one -- involving just 5 dozen 4-year-olds. Researchers randomly assigned the kids to one of three groups -- either play with crayons, watch the slow-paced PBS cartoon "Caillou" or watch Nickelodeon's fast-paced cartoon -- Spongebob Squarepants.

After doing one of these tasks for 9 minutes, the researchers assessed the kids' ability to focus and problem solve. Dr. Dimitri Christakis - Seattle Children's Research Institute "The children who watched the fast-paced cartoon performed significantly worse." Experts say kids' developing brains don't have enough time to process fast-paced media.

Dr. Dimitri Christakis - Seattle Children's Research Institute "These children's brains were actually tired from all that stimulation and they weren't as able to then focus the way they otherwise would be able to."

Dr. Michael Rich, Center on Media and Child Health, Children's Hospital Boston: "If you are given more time to absorb a scene, to understand what goes on, you are able to interact with it, with your own questions and your own ideas." SpongeBob is one of Nickelodeon's most popular shows, and is marketed to kids over age 6.

In a statement, a nickelodeon spokesman said: "Having 60 non-diverse kids, who are not part of the show's targeted demo, watch 9 minutes of programming is questionable methodology." There's no evidence to suggest the short-term cognitive deficits found in this study translate into long-term problems. While Spongebob and his neighbors under the sea may not be the enemy -- experts say parents should remember kids' brains are like sponges -- soaking up everything they see. The typical preschooler watches 2 to 4 hours of television a day.

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

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How much T.V. time is too much?

Do you let your toddlers watch T.V.? I don't necessarily limit the T.V. with my 16-month-old, but he could care less about the television. His big brother is WAY more interesting. However, I never realized that just having it on could have a big impact on him. I do try and turn it off when I realize it's on and no one is watching it, but sometimes I am sure I just ignore it and don't even realize it's on.

Here's the story from ABC News:

People do it every day -- pay bills online, fold laundry or do homework to the soothing sound of a spinning wheel, the drone of the evening news or the canned laughter of a rerun.

A new study found that having television on around young children distracts them from playing, even when they are not watching it, and can inhibit learning. Just because you've learned to tune out the television doesn't mean infants and toddlers can, according to a new study in the Journal Childhood Development. According to the study, that background adult television might be a harmful distraction.

Researchers observed 50 kids aged 1 to 3 at play in a room for an hour: half the time was television-free, and half the time the TV show "Jeopardy" was playing on a television in the room. Although the children in the room while the TV was on glanced up only occasionally, the researchers saw clear signs that the children had trouble concentrating.

"It's not something that you would really notice from just watching the child," says Daniel Anderson, a co-author of the study and a professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts. "I really didn't know if children could just focus on their activity and shut out the background noise."

During the television-free time, Anderson and his colleagues observed standard psychological testing signs that the toddlers were focused and learning. "The child gets an intent look on their face, they lean into the toy, their extraneous body movements decrease," Anderson says. "When they're in that state, they're much more likely to be learning."

But when "Jeopardy" came on, Anderson and his colleagues saw different behavior. The children played for half as long as they played without background television, and they were visibly less calm. "You actually can see sometimes more aimless behavior, walking around like they're not quite sure what they're going to do next," Anderson says.

The gulf is great between what pediatricians recommend for television watching and what children are exposed to in the home. According to a 2003 study from the Kaiser Family Foundation, two-thirds of children under 6 live in homes where the television is on half the time, and one-third of children live in homes where the television is left on "always" or "most of the time."

But the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends zero hours in front of the television for infants and toddlers under age 3. The average child under age 6 watches two hours a day. Even pediatricians aren't sure what this gap will mean for childhood development.

How much television do your kid's watch? Do you have set rules about the T.V.?

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

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