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Hello, and welcome to Insider’s Health TV. Where we bring you the freshest happenings
in the world of medicine without the quack propaganda. Today we’ll be talking about
SPongeBob SquarePants, and why researchers think that this particular show might be one
of the biggest causes of ADD in young children.
A study published in the journal, Pediatrics, is encouraging parents to keep their young
children away from one of Nickelodeon’s premier cartoons. It turns out, the little
yellow square in pants may just be making it harder for our offspring to pay attention
and think reasonably.
The research, done by the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, tested 4-year-old volunteers
with following rules, delayed gratification, and remembering series of numbers. One test
even challenged the children to resist eating Goldfish crackers for five minutes… which
would certainly be a challenge for me, and was killer for the SpongeBob group. However,
two groups who watched a PBS show and colored for their sessions were able to complete every
test.
But before you cancel your cable package, there were certainly limits to the test. First,
it only had twenty participants per group, and only had them watch their shows or color
for nine minutes. That is an extremely small sample size. They also never tested after
a period of time, so it is unproven whether or not these results are lasting or if they
just affect short term memory.
But the kids who watched SpongeBob, in which the scenes change on an average of every 11
seconds, did fare much worse, so it’s certainly worth looking into. Are you going to let this
news change your television habits, or do you find a show that contains a positive message
and keeps your child happy to be worth the risk? Let us know with your comments below.
That’s it for this edition of Insider’s Health TV. I’m your host, Kimberly Walleston.
And remember: it’s your health. We’re just helping you think outside the docs.