(Image source: TVbytheNumbers)
BY JING LIU
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Parents, you might want to keep your four-year-old children away from SpongeBob SquarePants!
A new study from the University of Virginia shows the popular cartoon might make your kids less attentive. Here’s KSAZ.
“It finds that watching just 9 minutes of SpongeBob SquarePants can cause short-term attention learning problems in four-year-olds. The problem were seen in a study of 60 children randomly assigned to watch SpongeBob, or a slower-paced PBS cartoon, or assigned to draw pictures. Those who had watched SpongeBob did measurably worse on a mental function test than the others.”
How -- according to the study -- does SpongeBob hurt children? NBC has some experts’ explanations.
“These children’s brains are actually tired of that stimulation. If you are given more time to absorb the scene, to understand what goes on, you’re able to interact with it, with your own questions, with your own ideas.”
SpongeBob SquarePants is one of Nickelodeon’s most popular shows. As AOL reports, the company says the show is targeted at kids between six and 11.
“Having 60 non-diverse kids, who are not part of the show’s targeted demo, watch nine minutes of programming is questionable methodology. It could not possibly provide the basis for any valid findings that parents could trust.”
But the researchers explain -- they chose 4-year-olds because that age is - quote “the heart of the period during which you see the most development.” (The Washington Times)
Despite the limitations like the small sample size, and the unknown long-term effects, as the Christian Science Monitor reports -- there is one takeaway:
A researcher says…
“…the research highlights the importance not just of how much TV a child watches, but of what kind…”
Turns out - though - according to Nielsen -- more than half of the show’s viewers are over 9 years old. Actually -- more than 30 percent are over 18.
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