Reasons why you should kick the TV out of your room

Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:40PM EDT

See Comments (105)

Raise your hand if you have a television in the bedroom? How about the kids' bedroom? It's not hard to put a television in every room, especially if you keep upgrading to sleeker, flatter, sharper television sets. I don't have kids, yet I have three televisions in the house, and yes, I have the obligatory flat-panel display in the bedroom because I'm a news junkie who likes to watch CNN in the morning.

It seems to me that lately, researchers are focusing on the effects of having a television set in the bedroom. In a nutshell, having a TV in your sleep sanctuary is bad, very bad, but we already knew that. I guess what we may not have known is how bad it really is, especially when it's in the kid's room. So to bring you up to speed, I've gathered the latest findings hoping to shed some light on this bad habit.

New York Times and IO9 have good articles on the subject so I'll start there. Here's what they say in a nutshell:

TV makes you dumb: In a 2005 study of six Northern California schools, 70 percent of students who had their own TV scored "significantly and consistently" lower on math, reading, and language-arts tests. Those who had computers scored higher. It's believed the TV is a distraction during homework and may interfere with sleep. Seventh graders in Montreal also had the same problem. Those who spent more time in front of the TV, had lower grades. No surprise there.

TV makes you overweight: Several studies have suggested that kids with TVs in their bedroom are likely to be overweight. In a two-year study by the The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, researchers found that kids snacked less when a device (I'm assuming BOB) was programmed to cut into the child's TV viewing time. Kids weren't inspired to exercise more, they just ate less calories a day. A French study found that boys with TVs in their bedroom were more likely to gain weight.

TV makes you a smoker: Yet, another study of 700 middle-school students between 12 and 14 years old, found that kids with TVs were twice as likely to start smoking. Of those surveyed, 42 percent who smoked had a TV in their bedroom.

TV messes up your sleeping patterns: Ok, so all the above figures have been for kids, but adults are also affected by bedroom TVs. Blog IO9, found a survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey (ATUS) shows that late night TV watching can control a person's sleeping patterns. Once upon a time, the day and night cycle determined our sleeping patterns, but with modern technology, mainly that television in the room, people's sleeping patterns are getting worse. Those most vulnerable to TV-timed sleep changes are people who work in services sectors like education, health, leisure, and hospitality, and people who live in the Eastern time zone.

There you have it. A few more reasons to kick that bedroom TV out.

Related:

Sleeping Alone? Your Gadgets May Be at Fault
Is Your Geeky Lifestyle Affecting Your Health?
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Teens spending 30, 40, even 50 each week in front of screens

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Comments on Reasons why you should kick the TV out of your room

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  • 69 Posted by cwcrash2000@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:33PM EDT Report Abuse

    You people need to learn how to spell and proof read! Children do not need a tv in there room. Families should be spending time together, even if it is watching tv in the living room (together). What happened to playing games or cards or even doing a puzzle together. Not everything needs to be electronical! That's whats wrong with society today, there is no more being a family and spending time together. And for the nut that commented about lower-income families - they don't have the money for tv's in the bedrooms. Or they wouldn't be lower-income!

  • 70 Posted by 1dawgfan@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:42PM EDT Report Abuse

    This whole article is bull. I have 3 kids that have TV and computers in their room. They do their homework in the kitchen (where there is no TV). All 3 of my kids are smart and do very well on tests. I control how much TV is watched in their rooms. By the way they are all also skinny as rails. As for the smoking link, that is just so stupid I don't even want to go there.

  • 71 Posted by brithrocks@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:13PM EDT Report Abuse

    YOU GUYS ARE LEARS BECAUSE I WATCH TV LIKE 24/7 AND I DONT SMOKE AT ALL AND IM ONLY 19 ----- THAT

  • 72 Posted by n.li@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:32PM EDT Report Abuse

    Well, duh!!! Anyone can figure that out. You're distracted by TV, so you don't sleep or do homework. You're poor grades give you bad self esteem, so you are more likely to start smoking. Also, you're not exercising and eating junk food, so you are overweight. My dad figured this out years ago. Oh, and by the way, if you have low income, you are less likely to have a TV in your kid's bedroom, because that means you have a TV in YOUR bedroom, your living room, and you have a house with at least two bedrooms, and therefore, a pretty high income.

  • 73 Posted by jaydetiger on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:29PM EDT Report Abuse

    Seems my previous comment did not post correctly - let me try again... "%

  • 74 Posted by kandiking@att.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:46PM EDT Report Abuse

    i agree this research is bogus. my kids also have tv in their rooms. my son has had a tv in his room since he was 5 he is 8 now making a and b honoroll. both my kids eat healthier than i. they have video games but they rather go out side and do activities, my son plays baseball and really enjoys it very much.so like i said this research is bogus.

  • 75 Posted by candid357@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:17PM EDT Report Abuse

    Studies like these make you wonder; How is it that we put tv's in the bedrooms of kids? It's simple, because we can, and if you are a GOOD PARENT who actually raises a child, then he or she will do fine in school. Personally I am a 16 years old Junior in high school, I have been blessed with a tv in my room since I was young enough to know what tv meant. No, I am not obese, stupid and I carry a very strict no drug policy. How did this happen? MY PARENTS RAISED ME. These studies are correlation coincidences. Not that I study these things, but maybe parents who throw tvs in their child's room do so because they are pawning the rearing off on spongebob squarepants (hence the bad grades) . Not that I am saying people who put tvs in bedrooms can't raise kids, as I said I have one. I'm simply saying that the way a child performs in life, and the decisions he or she makes relies on the parents not the television.

  • 76 Posted by jason.anderson.1@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:29PM EDT Report Abuse

    52% of kids who smoked did not have a tv in their room, but having a tv makes them twice as likely to smoke? That doesn't add up. Why do these studies always try to find "the one thing" that causes all the problems in the world?

  • 77 Posted by donniedpd@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:46PM EDT Report Abuse

    i think u should stop saying tv makes u less smarter it may do that but im worried about how it teaches kids what guns are and how to use them i rather my kid or other kids be dumb than be a killer or be killed just because they saw some one on tv shoot someone and and thats the only reason the tv should not be in the room

  • 78 Posted by ryeka@prodigy.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:57PM EDT Report Abuse

    I could have told these researchers a lot of this stuff long ago. Of course, the television is a distraction. That's why I don't turn it on when I need to do something. Too, I've noticed that a lot of television shows- especially those 'intended' for young audiences- tend to be mindless pieces of drivel. I don't say all: Some shows actually do have value. But those are the exception, not the rule. And of course, someone who spends a lot of time watching television is going to weigh more: They're sitting in one place, not getting up and moving around. On to the smoking thing: Far too often, smoking is presented as 'cool' or 'glamorous'. And kids don't think of what happens when they start getting splotches on their skin, or start getting emphysema. Or they really think that it can't happen to them: They think it's something for Old Folks (tm), and it doesn't occur to them to think of where the Old Folks come from. Seriously, the Ratings system in general is messed up: Totally harmless things are banned, while the disgusting and degenerate are glorified. Folks, where is the common sense?

  • 79 Posted by dromines@att.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:48PM EDT Report Abuse

    I can see it both ways. I must say though, it worries me when most of the comments about defending one's rights to a T.V. have the worst spelling and grammar of all the postings.

  • 81 Posted by res1dn2i@verizon.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:36PM EDT Report Abuse

    It's clear that TV does affect learning, the previous comments prove this. The greatest learning is "hands on", not from an inanimate electrical device. TVs should be used to get the family together, not send them to respective bedrooms. One TV is all any household needs. To think that the family's economic standing is the reason, has its merits, but think of what you are saying. Lower income families having a TV in the bedroom, sounds a little daft. Quite a few low income families don't have a TV, they spend their money on items like food and clothing. It's clear what needs to done. Put the TV, video game, and other electronic parent away and do the job of raising our children. Why are we having babies if we send them to their room so we won't be annoyed by them.

  • 82 Posted by abigailcabal@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:44PM EDT Report Abuse

    TV and lower intelligence... I think that's more an effect of kids not reading books and getting all their daily extra-curricular input from a TV, rather than just having a TV themselves. If kidswere just a little more interested and deeper into educational resources, then maybe they'd be watching National Geographic more instead of Family Guy. Yes, they probably studied less... Studied families with less informed youths than study those families with actually verry well-informed kids.

  • 83 Posted by berno308@verizon.net on Mon Mar 17, 2008 9:51PM EDT Report Abuse

    My 6 year old daughter has a TV in her room. She does not use it during the day what so ever. She only uses it to watch before falling asleep. Kind of like a noise maker and night light. She is very smart! This guy dont even have kids so he should not be allowed to write an artical like this

  • 84 Posted by undecided4now@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:28PM EDT Report Abuse

    Man, I don't get why the news is so dumbed-down nowadays. From what I've seen in actual life, and society in America as a whole, is that the thing that makes kids smokers, fat, have bad test scores, and a thousand other things, is when their parents aren't interested in taking care of their kids. The American culture today is so not about parents raising their kids, but parents having a good life for themselves while giving their kids whatever they ask for/"need". So the parents that will give their kids what they want by sticking a TV in their room (where they can often watch what they want, unsupervised) are the ones who are willing to have a TV babysitter, instead of a human babysitter or even their own care and willingness to raise them. That's what makes them "dumb", unhealthy, etc. And I don't need a study to show me that, or to draw silly correlations between a TV in a bedroom and smoking.

  • 85 Posted by pat_the_irish_king on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:02PM EDT Report Abuse

    both a laptop computer and a tv in my room and my computer keep's up more then the tv want proof im posting this at 2:52 AM and to quote jutin `234568790-=bjhggtguhgf hu4rt6nhjkhgihgnghgkijguggfhgf7fghgfydeyfug ertydf gtfe tedfgdygkhgfuydtdsfewqqwqfhgfgbhfudftftgfyfhrfgh865vgfuhgfghbhgbvhbgf its true

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