SpongeBob Causes Short Term Attention Problems

AGO (AP) -The cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants is in hot water from a study suggesting that watching just nine minutes of that program can cause short-term attention and learning problems in 4-year-olds. The problems were seen in a study of 60 children randomly assigned to either watch "SpongeBob," or the slower-paced PBS cartoon "Caillou" or assigned to draw pictures. Immediately after these nine-minute assignments, the kids took mental function tests; those who had watched "SpongeBob" did measurably worse than the others. Previous research has linked TV-watching with long-term attention problems in children, but the new study suggests more immediate problems can occur after very little exposure -results that parents of young kids should be alert to, the study authors said. Kids' cartoon shows typically feature about 22 minutes of action, so watching a full program "could be more detrimental," the researchers speculated, But they said more evidence is needed to confirm that.

Talk about grasping at straws. It seems as though, the FDA, the media, and/ or the Medical community will do
anything to impose their agenda on families everywhere, which borderlines on censorship.

Far worse than censorship, is this outrageous desire for outsiders to control how parents are raising their children.

I am sure many of us spent hours watching Bugs Bunny and the Road Runner. Neither one of those
would be classified as a slow paced cartoon. How about Educational T.V.? Does anyone remember "ZOOM"? I mean, we watched that in school! The name alone describes anything but a relaxing laid back program.

If the latest claims regarding "Spongebob" are true, then we would be one memory defeceint world. The entire study is nothing but B. S.

Frankly, I am tired of the constant criticism against parents. Every single day, someone somewhere is telling parents all over the world "NO, you are doing it all wrong! You really screwed up! Shame on you! We will teach you! We will just take your children from you"!

Drudge

What do you think ATS?

Thanks for your time,
Pax

As most of you will probably remember, we spent hours watching Bugs Bunny

These scientists are kind of dumb.

If they expect a kid to sit down and shut up for awhile, they are ludicrous.

Anyone who takes care of kids knows that a healthy kid is a energetic and playful kid, who runs jumps and gets into trouble.

All kids eventually get tired too. They want to sit down and draw pictures, play with scissors and glue, or read one of their books.

I have two kids and sometimes take care of my friends kids. This is a predictable pattern of behavior, and I am used to it.

I admit it drives me crazy often, but I like kids usually and enjoy playing with them.

You know what will REALLY get some kid's attention? Put your hands straight out and walk super slow saying "I....am.....zombie....want...brains...." and they will scream and run and have a hell of a good time getting away.

No kid is too ADHD for me, I am not boring like other adults and I know how to make reading and writing fun for kids too.

So sadly, these scientists are making entirely false assumptions from the get go. Of course their study is flawed in the extreme.

Frankly, I am tired of the constant criticism against parents. Every single day, someone somewhere is telling parents all over the world "NO, you are doing it all wrong! You really screwed up! Shame on you! We will teach you! We will just take your children from you"!

People have been doing this for the past 100 years.

The entire study is nothing but B. S.

You can't just call a scientific study BS because you don't like the results.

If the latest claims regarding "Spongebob" are true, then we would be one memory defeceint world.

ding ding ding. We have a winner. If you haven't noticed how bad people's memories are, then you're probably one of those with a terrible memory.

I am not surprised though, with study or no study.
everything we do now is short term, less books are being read, and with the introduction of internet and digital world, we literally just rush through articles just to read another article instead of critically dissecting their materials.

In my early childhood, I really enjoyed spogebob but that is not saying the study has no merit. It is also true that parents are failing to deal with new generations so don`t tell me otherwise.

That is all.

What?!?!

Whatever...Spongebob's on!!!

reply to post by paxnatus


It depends on the kid really, some kids can bask in the glow of TV from an early age with very little if any ill affect while others might be damaged by it. I think the real key here is not the program itself but the age of the kid. If a kid is really young and they are sat in front of cartoons all day every day their attention span might only last the eleven minutes that each episode takes up and after that their mind has to take a sort of commercial break. The key is to not use TV as a babysitter... all things in moderation.

Obviously there are 'issues' with SpongeBob...I think his friend Gary was originally a Rhodes Scholar...and look at him now. A mere shell of his former being...

I grew up watching Bugs Bunny and was later diagnosed with ADHA and it turned out I wasn't. I personally never liked Spongebob. I don't think it is a show for children to watch. It's just stupid. I help my girlfriend raid her daughter and we let her watch tv when she gets home from school but I don't think it leads to attention problems. Being 6 years old causes that. Kids are full of energy and bounce around from one thing to another. If I saw a child that DIDN'T I would think something was wrong with that kid. It wouldn't surprise me if this study was funded by the government.

Originally posted by paxnatus
I am sure many of us spent hours watching Bugs Bunny and the Road Runner. Neither one of those
would be classified as a slow paced cartoon. How about Educational T.V.? Does anyone remember "ZOOM"? I mean, we watched that in school! The name alone describes anything but a relaxing laid back program.

Most older shows and movies are considerable slower than modern shows and are quite different. Bugs Bunny is a good example for some episodes having historical settings or just showed something of the world. You learned at least a bit while watching.
Todays shows? With Spongebob you learn nothing and don't get me started on the japanese animes that are so popular with kids...they don't learn anything from Naruto.
Sure there were fast-paced shows filled with action like Masters of the Universe back then, but even they were considerable slower and at least had that "morality" thing at the end. Do todays shows have something like that? No.

If i had children i wouldn't let them watch crap like Spongebob.

It's also wrong to just say that kids are "adhd" and can't be too hyperactive. There's a difference between running around outside with friends and being able to watch a movie without being bored after 10 minutes.
When i was a kid i watched a whole lot of old movies, slow movies. I watched Papillon when i was 10, around the same time watched the first Alien movies. Movies that are considered too slow, too boring by most people at my age now. Guess why? Because they grew up with attention disorder and never came over it. They also don't read books because they call them boring and why read when we have TV? Yeah...

I know it's great fun here on ATS to hate on everything negative that come from scientists and other persons, it's practically a sport to deny them. But i really think they have a point when they say that crap shows like Spongebob aren't good for kids.

Captain: Are you ready kids?
Kids: Aye-aye Captain.
Captain: I can't hear you...
Kids: Aye-Aye Captain!!
Captain: Oh! Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?
Kids: SpongeBob SquarePants!
Captain: Absorbent and yellow and porous is he!
Kids: SpongeBob SquarePants!
Captain: If nautical nonsense be something you wish...
Kids: SpongeBob SquarePants!
Captain: Then drop on the deck and flop like a fish!
Kids: SpongeBob SquarePants!
Captain: Ready?
EveryBody: SpongeBob SquarePants! SpongeBob SquarePants! SpongeBob SquarePants!
Captain: SpongeBob.... SquarePants! Haha.

Flippin great. I remember watching this with my children in The Cayman
Islands.
Then we went snorkeling.
Brings back some of my best memories.

Um, now what were we talking about?

My oldest child (7) watches Spongebob and is in advanced 1st grade math class. He is SMART and does not have ADD or ADHD or any other problems like that. Neither does my middle boy (3). This is blowing it way out I think.
Spongebob is actually pretty funny if you loosen up a bit. Why single out Spongebob anyway really, I have seen worse cartoons for kids. I would rather my kids be entertained and laughing than getting bored like they do with Dora and Team Umizoomi. Don't even get me started on Max and Ruby or Olivia....UGH!

As long as they are not sitting infront of the TV for 8 hours a day, it's ok with me. My kids get 30 mins to an hour a day of TV, maybe more if it's raining or bad weather out, otherwise their butts are outside riding bikes or doing other boy related stuff.
It's all up to parents though, and to each their own I guess.

We can spend all day pointing fingers, but come on...why spongebob? He's awesome!

I've seen sponge bob.
Sometimes I wish I could get my 30 mins back.
It's worse than Beavis n Butthead.
And that's saying alot..

Forget short term attention problems, Sponge Bob is making kids plain stupid!

I read the first couple sentences of this thread but got kinda bored. Spongebob is awesome! Anyways who wants to ride bikes?

I know a lady (unfortunately...long story, but I HAVE to know her) who put her baby a foot away from the TV watching constant family guy, from the moment she could sit up in her little car seat. I am talking hours and hours of this. From just a few months old. The little girl is about 6 now and dumber than a box of rocks.
Why even bother having children?

I have never had cable in my home, I have always had TV but it was never treated as anything special, my daughter may watch TV as she pleases, she rarely does. She is too busy making her own shows for you-tube, crafting, writing, reading or riding her bike.

I disagree with government meddling myself, but anyone that thinks more than an hour of TV PROGRAMMING a day is good (or not bad) for their kid is out of their mind. Kids are full of energy, yes, so why are most of them butt down on couch staring at a screen? Probably because they don't have a long enough attention span to concentrate on anything else, or maybe TV is addictive? If you have kids, turn off the tele and tell em to go outside and blow the stink off themselves.

reply to post by paxnatus

I miss Bugs

The shameful part is the money that goes into nonsense research like this when there are a ton of other studies that would seem to better benefit the world besides DO NOT WATCH SPONGEBOB!

And they can't find where to do the budget cuts??? I'm just glad that my money paid for these doctors to pass their clinical so that they can go on to charge me outlandish amounts of money to write scripts that my kid doesn't need.

Originally posted by Ghost375

Frankly, I am tired of the constant criticism against parents. Every single day, someone somewhere is telling parents all over the world "NO, you are doing it all wrong! You really screwed up! Shame on you! We will teach you! We will just take your children from you"!

People have been doing this for the past 100 years.

The entire study is nothing but B. S.

You can't just call a scientific study BS because you don't like the results.

If the latest claims regarding "Spongebob" are true, then we would be one memory defeceint world.

ding ding ding. We have a winner. If you haven't noticed how bad people's memories are, then you're probably one of those with a terrible memory.

Have been doing it for the last 100 years? You don't say? I can't recall a Federal agency ever interfering
with parental guidelines short of Child Protective Services...Must be my bad memory. Guess I'll just have to leaver that one for you to prove. Oh, and don't forget the link!

No, this was not a valid scientific study. There were no measurements or evaluations taken before the watching of SpongeBob, nor did the group include any other race or economic status. This study in no way could be valid.

Your last comment regarding my memory and "everyone's" is nothing but pure blather.
Not that it is any of your business but my memory happens to be outstanding.

Here is a clue: My point and the reason for the thread is not whether or not spongeBob is good or evil, it is about letting an agency dictate how we raise our kids to the point of telling us what they can and cannot watch based on a bogus study.

Thanks,
Pax

This is about parenting.

Watching a TV does not create a chemical imbalance within the brain that requires 20 years of thousands of $ worth of medication to solve.

THAT is lunacy !

As Violator and Titen pointed out, it's about being a parent. It's about learning your child's unique personality and likes and dislikes. Finding them and facilitating their talents...

If something is "boring" it's because you haven't found their secret yet. Don't give up, just keep looking for a way. There is always a way to get a kid into something.

You have to make things fun. That's the ultimate rule of thumb.
There are hundreds of solutions, and blaming everything on some random cartoon is just pathetic. Sorry.

Give me a million $ and I will make a study that shows Spongebob makes kids smarter. I could make 10 studies for 10million $. Fund ME.

OOOOOOOH! Who gives all the people who watch ADHD?

the second line is for all the children to answer.

The kids weren't paying attention to the tests taken afterward because they were pissed off they got interrupted from their favorite show after 9 minutes... Callilou, being less interesting, had less of an effect when interrupted... And to most children, a drawing isn't a big deal, they can draw whenever they want. But now they gotta scour the tv stations waiting for that episode of SpongeBob to come on again so they can see the ending. They were thinking about the program and wondering how it ended. This is the root of the real problem. People, especially children as they are regularly being ordered by everyone (parents, teachers, older siblings, other family, friends parents, etc) to stop or start doing something, are constantly moving from one unfinished thing to the next, leaving many strands of unfinished thought taking up space in the ol' noggin. This comes from a life filled with too many things. A more simple life without being rushed about, would be greatly beneficial to one's memory amdbattention keeping abilities.