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I've heard that television (any program, including those designed for small children (Dora, recent Mickey Mouse, Bubble Guppies) is bad for the development of children, as it damages their ability to learn and retain concepts being taught to them.

They say that children need time to learn things and that television 'overwrites' what they've learned, and damage their imagination.

So, are there studies backing this up? And as a followup, how exactly are programs designed for children damaging?

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I don't have an answer but, when I will have kids, I will absolutely avoid to let them see Teletubbies. That must definitely impair their sanity. :) – nico Sep 17 '11 at 15:38
You should probably look for a source for this claim, as the only report I've seen recently was rather more nuanced than that. – dmckee Sep 17 '11 at 15:41
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The infamous "Sponge Bob Square Pants" cartoon is known to cause temporary learning problems for 4-year-olds: cbc.ca/news/health/story/2011/09/12/… – Randolf Richardson Sep 17 '11 at 15:53
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@Randolf - Hahahahahahahaha – Rory Alsop Sep 17 '11 at 19:15
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whether it's TV cartoons, videogames, facebook, comic books, radio, books in general, someone will always be there to claim "it's bad for children" and uses the "unruly nature of modern children" as "proof" of that. It's just the WHAT is supposedly bad that changes over time. My mother blamed television and reading books in lamplight for both me and my sister needing glasses at an early age for example, she literally said that watching television turns your eyes into squares! – jwenting Mar 27 at 9:30
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