ADHD + TV: What’s the relationship?
By Umesh Jain
Christakis, et al. (2004) started the controversy in his pinnacle article in Pediatrics where there was a significant prediction of attentional problems if the child was exposed to TV before the age of 3. Naturally the American Academy of Pediatrics suggested that children under 3 should not be watching TV or passively stimulating activity. Two replicated studies by Obel et al., 2004 and Stevens & Mulsow (2006) could not replicate these findings. However, again in Pediatrics this year, there is early evidence to show that early TV exposure may affect some executive functions and while the article did not casually predict ADHD, it was very suggestive.
What about video games? To an ADDer, passive stimulation like TV, movies, video games, and Internet surfing are like drugs. I have even witnessed withdrawal effects when I conducted a small study randomly shutting off the machine with an ADHD child versus a ‘normal’ control subject. The ADHD kid blew a fuse while the other kid looked up at me and said, “what happened?”
As the world goes faster, maybe the only brains that can keep up are the ADDer’s. A topic ripe for Conspiracy Theorists.
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Video games and computers are very interactive. TV is passive and rest time for the mind. Video game have different interactivity levels depending on game type. FPS shooters require you think things through. If you go like Rambo, you get your ass kicked. RPG and Strategy require an ultra high planning. “Empire Earth I”, you select what attributes your society possesses. You plan from the first age what you’ll be doing from prehistoric to space age(500,000 years of history). You long term planning to win the game. Video games are good on three fronts. One, you get that anger and frustration out of your system. Two, theses game practice your long term planning skill. Three, improving reaction time for driving or other things. I’v been playing them since I was 7 years old. They helped me in school later.
TV is more like a rest break for the mind. It really does rot your brain. After a few hours, I really need some interactivity.
Video games, only those who are already prone to addiction might have a problem. Causing violence BS, again only those already prone to it. Most humans have this thing called self-control or willpower.
I should also mention, the problem with the ADHD kid and randomly shutting off the machine might be sensitivity to transitions, no? My son (who has way too many of daddy’s traits to be good for him, but is a bit young yet for assessment) can tolerate ending a pleasureable activity (whether active or passive) much, much better if he’s got a couple of minutes warning. We find even when picking him up from the after school program it’s best if we stick our head in the door, say “hi” and then go grab coats and backpacks while the staff get them moving towards being ready to leave. Arriving saying “okay buddy, time to go, right now” was often going VERY badly…
I find that most kids I work with who have ADHD are prone to being highly into gaming, especially online gaming with constant change, persistent worlds or PvP play. The exception are usually kids with such high hyperactivity that they can’t sit still for anything, no matter what it is…
Interstingly, I’ve seen some families whose kids have ADHD who don’t have TVs or computers or game systems, and in those cases most of those kids have encountered them at a friend’s place and now want to “go play over at Johnny’s” as often as possible
Yes, people with ADHD are drawn to things like TV, video games, etc. We have so many “guilty pleasures” that we seek out because we get so easily bored with most mundane tasks. So it is easy for someone to make the incorrect leap that TV and other electronic media are the cause of ADHD – they are not. They are merely the symptom.
For me, it would make a big difference whether you shut off the television at the end of a show or in the middle. Isn’t it normal to be bothered by the abrupt interruption of a narrative? I’d even go so far as to say that a child not being bothered by it would concern me. This might indicate the inability to follow a story or to empathize with a character.
In addition, would the action not imply to the subject that their interests and desires were being dismissed with no consideration?