Habits that Make a Creative Mind Part I - Why Limit Television

Yesterday at an open house my children did something that surprised me.  They turned down the opportunity to watch children's programs on Astro when it was offered to them.  Katelynn decided she would rather draw and create a fashion magazine on a pad of paper and Kaleb decided he would rather go into the playroom and play with the toys. I really thought they would succumb to the lure of the T.V. 

I turned this event over and over in my mind. Juxtaposed against it were the many conversations I'd had with parents about the habits of children in their use of T.V. and computer games, along with countless articles and studies I had come across of the effects these gadgets are having on our children. Then there was also my observations from the classroom of children.  I had always told my children that T.V. was like junk food and that it rots your brain.  After taking a closer look at studies on the effects of T.V. viewing, I can see how correct those words truly are.

During childhood and adolescence the body and mind are being shaped for adult life.  For young people, the food eaten, the amount of sleep, the emotional environment, the types of amusement (and many other areas of life) all act together to shape the body and mind they will have as an adult.  An important role of adults is to guide and when necessary enforce right choices that will help each child gain the optimum body and mind possible from the natural qualities they possesses.

One of the main areas of contention with parents is the T.V. and rightly so.  Studies on the effects of  T.V. on the brain show that we should be concerned with how much television our children are viewing.  Here are several graphs of brain waves for different activities.  Pay close attention to the bottom yellow line.  These are gamma waves.  Gamma waves are fast, high-frequency responses in a person's brain that spike when concentrating, processing and making sense of information, self-control, abstract thinking, decision making, planning, problem solving, creating and many others.  These sort of activities are often referred to as higher order/level thinking.

Here are what brain waves look like when drawing:

When reading:

And when watching T.V:

 Why are gamma waves so low during T.V. watching?  Gamma waves need concentration to be present.  The nature of T.V. is to shift focus, by zooming in and out, changing scenes, etc every few seconds.  This sudden shifting triggers what is called "Orientating Response".  When ever something suddenly changes, your mind will drop concentration and other higher functions (planning, creating, abstract thinking, etc.) to focus on this new stimulus to be sure that it is not a threat to you. Gamma waves demand concentration to operate. Because your orientating response is being triggered every few seconds by the shifting scenes on the television, there is very little opportunity for gamma waves.  Furthermore, gamma waves take much longer to come back.  In other words, you have to concentrate for awhile before gamma waves return.

This isn't very good for adults, and it does affect their ability to focus, concentrate and use other higher level functions, but it's far worse for children.  An adult's brain can be molded and changed, but not as much as a child's. In fact it takes much more exposure and practice to alter an adult's brain.  The brain of a child is what we call very "plastic" or mold-able. It's very easily molded and changed with much less effort. It is well known that how we use our brains in childhood affects the shape the brain takes in adulthood.

Let me give you an example of this.  Those who grow up in an environment where Chinese is spoken learn to be sensitive to tonal sounds of words and phrases.  The constant practice of doing this as a child shapes the brain to be sensitive to this as an adult later in life.  Others who do not grow up in such an environment do not have brains that are sensitive to tonal variations and would encounter difficulty in distinguishing the different tones when hearing Chinese. Whatever gets used during childhood is strengthened in the brain. Whatever is not used is cut. This cutting takes place at various times during childhood up into adolescence. The brain is very efficient in this way so that the resources of oxygen, food and water can be channeled to what will be used from day to day. I guess that where the expression "Use it or lose it!" comes from.  It doesn't mean you will totally lose those abilities that are cut. What it does mean is that as an adult, you will have to exert a much greater effort to build back those abilities and you will not be able to attain the total mastery that a person who has grown up using those skills would have.

Coming back to T.V. viewing for children - what this means is that if a child spends hours and hours watching television his brain is conditioned to expect constant change and novelty (new things) in his or her environment.  It becomes hard for a child to concentrate on things for very long, and things become boring very easily.  Without the built up ability and skill of concentration needed for those gamma waves I mentioned earlier, there will be difficulty in using higher level brain functions that require gamma waves (like planning, self-control, abstract thinking, etc.)  If this continues through enough of childhood, then the brain will be shaped to function this way and in adulthood, much greater effort will have to be used to use higher level thinking.

It is very important to limit television watching in children.  For children under three, even a small amount can have negative effects.  Many child psychologists and pediatricians advocate that children two years of age and under, don't watch any television. Instead, help your child to engage in activities that require concentration and practice of other high level thinking.  Usually anything that has less structure and use of the imagination are good activities - drawing, free, unstructured play; sports, reading, etc.

Cutting back on your child's T.V. viewing might be a challenge at first.  They will most certainly be agitated and complain of boredom in the first few days.  This is normal and you will have to be strong. A time of protesting and nagging is totally worth reversing and stopping the negative affects T.V. has on them.  Leaving the screen black will also be good for the adults too.  You will learn to rediscover the lost art of play, conversation, reading and other enriching habits.   Your children will eventually adapt and they will learn to play with other things and play with other children.  What they need is the chance to practice playing on their own without an adult standing over them and directing them.  With practice, they will slowly learn how to amuse themselves and will begin developing concentration, creativity, planning, self-control, and other important skills. 

If you'd like to know more of the technical details to this, you can find it in these sources:

1.  Scientific American, Television Addiction is No Mere Metaphor
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=0005339B-A694-1CC5-B4A8809EC588EEDF&print=true

2.  The International TV-Free Community, How Does T.V. Affect Brain Waves (Lots of references to many studies here.)
http://www.tvsmarter.com/documents/brainwaves.html

3.  News Medical, Expert Warns Parents to Limit the Amount of T.V. Children Watch Before Age of Two
http://www.news-medical.net/news/2009/01/13/44941.aspx