A new study released Monday by the Journal of the American Medical Association found that all screens, including TV, computers, and video games, can negatively affect our brain’s ability to sleep in the evening, and that cutting back on television helped children sleep longer. The study recommends that screen time for older kids be limited to one or two hours a day. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under age 2 not be exposed to any electronic media.
Another study found that the amount of time kids spend watching TV or playing electronic games may affect their well-being in early childhood, including mental health factors like their risk for emotional problems. For girls in the study, each additional hour spent playing electronic games or using a computer on weekdays at age 4 was linked with a two-fold increase in the risk of emotional problems at age 6.And for both boys and girls, each additional hour of weekday TV watching was linked with an increase in the risk of poor family functioning. And a second study, conducted in the United States, found that less monitoring of a child’s media use was linked with a higher body mass index (BMI) in the child at age 7.
http://www.livescience.com/44142-media-use-young-children-well-being.html
