Bedroom TVs unhealthy for teens
p2pnet news | TV:- US parents have been warned it’s not a good idea for teenagers to have TV sets in their bedrooms
Those with them, “tend to have poorer diet and exercise habits and lower grades in school than those without one,” say researchers at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.
When 781 adolescents aged 15 to 18 in the Minneapolis area were questioned in 2003 and 2004, 62% said they had a television in their bedroom, says Reuters, going on:
“Not surprisingly, those with a bedroom TV were more apt to watch it a lot, clocking four to five more hours in front of a television per week, the researchers said.
“Twice as many of the teens with a bedroom TV were classified as heavy TV watchers – at least five hours a day – compared to those without one.”
Girls reported getting “less vigorous exercise’ (1.8 hours per week compared to 2.5 hours for girls without a TV), ate fewer vegetables, drank more sweetened beverages and ate meals with their family less often, the researchers said, states the story.
Boys said they had a lower grade point average than boys without one, “as well as eating less fruit and having fewer family meals, the researchers said,” states Reuters.
“It really clearly points out that there’s some merit to not allowing your child to have a TV in the bedroom,”it has Daheia Barr-Anderson, one of the researchers, stating.
Reuters – Study ties bedroom TV to unhealthy habits in teens, April 7, 2008
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April 7th, 2008 at 6:31 am
Again with the assumptions!
I had a tv in my room, but it didn’t have cable hooked up to it. I used it for movies. But according to the above study, just having it in there, connected to television programming or not, I would have had lower grades?
Sounds like some poor testing to me
April 7th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Dur, I think it’s pretty safe to assume when they say the kid has a TV that the TV is hooked up to cable or whatever. They’re not concerned with the instrument as much as the medium. OBVIOUSLY.
April 7th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Mom sez, “If there’s no TV in Billy’s room then he’ll want his Xbox hooked up to our TV in the den!!”
April 7th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Bah, the problem is one of convention; I also have a device in the playroom with no cable, but a dvd player – technically it’s being a monitor, not a tv, but if you start saying “monitor” people stare at you blankly…
April 7th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
I had a TV in my room (with cable) when I was a teenager as well, however I pretty much fit the stereotype.
April 8th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Same here…
But still, my spider senses are tingling on this one. I can’t help but feel some assumptive bias’ here. So many variables here and controls here. Racial statistics seems especially odd.
Wonder how would this data compare to people from areas outside Minnesota?
Bah. Lies, damn lies, and statistics