TV Tied To Autism Study Says

[Family Ties Forever!]

Agree or disagree?

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TV Watching Tied To Autism, Study Says

Updated: 7:11 am CDT April 2, 2008

Researchers from Cornell University said they have discovered a link between TV watching and autism.

The authors looked at county-by-county information on when cable TV entered an area, as well as precipitation rates.

The analysis showed that children from rainy counties watch more television and that areas with high precipitation also had higher autism rates.

"The analysis shows that early childhood television viewing could be an environmental trigger for the onset of autism and strongly points to the need for more research by experts in the field of autism," said Michael Waldman, a professor of economics at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management.

A news release from Cornell reported that the autism rate was 1 in 2,500 children 30 years ago, but has increased to as high as 1 in 166 as TV viewing has increased.

The authors looked at indirect views such as weather and cable penetration rates because there was no data to track autism against how much time children spend watching TV.

"Our analysis is not definitive, but it certainly raises questions that seem to have gone unasked in autism research to date," said Sean Nicholson, an associate professor of policy analysis and management at Cornell.

Distributed by Internet Broadcasting.

[dawsongirl]

I find this odd. Besides, does autism just suddenly develop? I thought it was something you were born with that varies in degrees and can get worse over time.

I suppose all these home-bound kids are fat too, and obesity is also linked to autism. x_x

[junecleaver]

I dont know much about this disease, but when i was a baby/child my mom would sit me in front of the tv frequently to watch cartoons and i'm fine. I'm sure there are other triggers they could be studying, maybe its something in the genes?

[sunshinefizzy]

Take it from someone that has an autistic brother herself, the hypothesis is bull ****!!!

Like someone else says you are born with it. Except for not every autistic child is a particular way. They range from so mild you wouldn't even know to blown out severe where they are so inside their own little world that it is almost impossible to not take care of them without medication and frequent help.

My brother is not middle-of-the-range autistic because he loved Barney and Sesame Street!!!

[Nighthawk76]

I don't agree with it at all.

[Hollow]

these ******** studies that say things like "people whose favorite color is red are at higher risk of cancer than those who favor blue" are just using a 'post hoc ergo propter hoc' fallacy. because A happened before B, A must have caused B. same thing applies to that other thread about eyesight quality being determined by the time of year the person was born. stupid. statistics mean nothing, it's scientific proof that matters.

[junecleaver]

Originally Posted by safety pin

these ******** studies that say things like "people whose favorite color is red are at higher risk of cancer than those who favor blue" are just using a 'post hoc ergo propter hoc' fallacy. because A happened before B, A must have caused B. same thing applies to that other thread about eyesight quality being determined by the time of year the person was born. stupid. statistics mean nothing, it's scientific proof that matters.

Thats exactly right. For all we know, they probably only survey like 3 people when making these stupid statistics.

[snl 70s show fan]

the study is a load of crap autism has nothing to do with tv watching

[*Pleasant Tomorrow*]

The thing with all these studies is that they're all just simply correlations...just because something correlates doesn't necessarily mean it's related. But still, they put the studies out there and stir people anyway about a "finding" that's probably not anything major and people buy into it without considering the detail that it's just a correlation, not a direct relation.

[Chelsea]

The poor kids who really have full blown autism - doesn't have a danged thing to do with it.

The autism-spectrum kids, however, are another story entirely. By spectrum, meaning that they clearly don't have the full blown syndrome, but they're expressing symptoms: Inability to socialize or pick up on appropriate social cues, isolated and obsessive interests, repetitive speech patterns and behavior: It's entirely believable that TV causes THIS. Think about it...mommy and daddy pop their Precious Little Snowflake in front of the TV when they're too busy to watch them, and letting the kids go play would just be too dangerous. Kid sits there, watching the same shows over and over...he's not playing with other little kids, learning social skills or just in general being active...and there you go. You can even account for the gender bias (skewed male) in autism diagnoses: not only are male kids more likely to be plopped in front of the TV in the first place, but the very real differences in the brain make isolation and fixation a lot easier.

[*Pleasant Tomorrow*]

Originally Posted by Seth

The poor kids who really have full blown autism - doesn't have a danged thing to do with it.

The autism-spectrum kids, however, are another story entirely. By spectrum, meaning that they clearly don't have the full blown syndrome, but they're expressing symptoms: Inability to socialize or pick up on appropriate social cues, isolated and obsessive interests, repetitive speech patterns and behavior: It's entirely believable that TV causes THIS. Think about it...mommy and daddy pop their Precious Little Snowflake in front of the TV when they're too busy to watch them, and letting the kids go play would just be too dangerous. Kid sits there, watching the same shows over and over...he's not playing with other little kids, learning social skills or just in general being active...and there you go. You can even account for the gender bias (skewed male) in autism diagnoses: not only are male kids more likely to be plopped in front of the TV in the first place, but the very real differences in the brain make isolation and fixation a lot easier.

Well then technically it's not the tv that's directly causing it, but the poor parenting.

[MrCleveland]

I think it's Mercury Poisoning.

And I live in the city with the most lead poison cases in children and autistics. (I sometimes wonder why I live in this city!)

[Ireneparalegal]

Didn't autism exist BEFORE television? What was the cause then? Radio?

[snl 70s show fan]

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

Didn't autism exist BEFORE television? What was the cause then? Radio?

i never thought of that

[Ireneparalegal]

Originally Posted by snl 70s show fan

i never thought of that

I would love to ask that question to the stupid people who spent money on that study.