A new small study has found that television, even when only on as background noise, has a “small but real” affect on the way young children play. Researchers found that when playing in a room with a TV on — they used Jeopardy, a program they thought the children would have little interest in — children tended to stop playing and watch the TV now and then, shortening the intensity and length of their play. This finding is in conflict with former studies that found that young children don’t pay attention to TV that they don’t understand. A lot of parents really like to have television on as background noise during the day, however, to listen to as they go about their activities. This study isn’t broad enough to prove that, but plenty of research has gone into how TV affects children. Heh, I knew from the time my daughter was 8 months old that kids pay attention to TV even if it’s boring or they don’t understand it. read more

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