Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Too Much Tube Time Can Harm, Study Finds

· Children who spend a lot of time watching TV, playing video games and surfing the Web are more likely to get fat, start smoking and face other health risks when they get older, researchers said yesterday.

Experts looked at the results of 173 studies done since 1980. The studies mostly focused on television, but some looked at video games, films, music, and computer and Internet use.

One study found that children who spent more than eight hours watching TV per week at age 3 were more likely to be obese at 7 than children who did not watch so much TV. Experts for decades have worried about the impact on young viewers of the violence and adult content in some TV programs, movies and video games. Another issue is that kids are spending time watching TV or playing computer games when they could be outside playing.

More media exposure was linked to drug and alcohol use, and poorer school performance, the experts said.