ADHD and Television

There are many reasons for experts to be concerned about the ill effects television can have on children. One concern is that too much watching can trigger attention problems. But a major study out of the American Academy of Pediatrics now says that’s probably not the case.

“Sometimes I watch TV because I have nothing else better to do,” the honest words of ten year old Rubin Hoffman.

His mom Phyllis says, "He does watch a fair amount of TV but I do try to limit it."

Rubin has attention deficit disorder. "He wasn't able to focus in class. The kids would be doing an assignment he would be looking everywhere except where he should be," Phyllis says. Phyllis is careful not to let him watch more than two hours a day. But it's not because she thinks TV is contributing to his underlying problem.

Now, in a new study in the Journal of Pediatrics, researchers evaluated the reports of parents and teachers of 5,000 children for two consecutive years to determine whether television viewing habits during the kindergarten year related to ADHD symptoms in first grade. It found there is no meaningful relationship between TV exposure and the symptoms of ADHD.

Dr. Adesman, Chief of Developmental Pediatrics at Schneider Children's Hospital, New York, says, "I think ADHD for the most part is something that has a neurobiological underpinning. The environment may affect it a little bit but ADHD is not being caused by excess television. In some ways it reminds me of the sugar and hyperactivity issue. Because we know on the one hand sugar doesn't cause hyperactivity but on the other hand there are nutritional and dental reasons why we want to limit sugar in take in children.

And, there are reasons to limit TV viewing other than ADHD risk. Dr. Adesman says children are spending more and more time watching television, videos and doing electronic media. The fact is it's estimated children are spending about three hours a day watching TV and about six hours a day between TV movies and video games.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends TV viewing be limited to one to two hours a day total. "I don’t think that it worsens his ADHD but I wouldn’t want my children sitting n front of the TV 4-5-6- hours a day. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing and that's something that television could be," says Phyllis.

The authors of the study do suggest that exhausted parents of very active and inattentive children may resort to using the television as a “babysitter" more than do parents of less active and more attentive children.