Study: TV in the Background Just as Bad as Watching

Parents should limit their kids’ TV time. ?That advice is nothing new. ?But a new study, published in the journal “Pediatrics,” suggests it’s time to expand the meaning of “TV time.”

FOX News Radio’s Chris Hoenig reports:

Your kids don’t need to be watching TV for it to count as “TV time.”

(Dr. Rome) “Even if it’s just background noise, it’s imprinting on your child.”

Dr. Ellen Rome at the Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital also says it’s time to redefine “TV time” as “screen time.”

(Dr. Rome) “That counts media, video games, computer and TV.”

Researchers at UNC-Wilmington finding kids with more background screen time spend less time socializing with friends and parents, and can pick up bad habits, like eating lots of junk food. ?Rome says kids under two should have zero screen exposure.

(Dr. Rome) “After two, it should be no more than one or two hours a day.”

But some study participants spend up to six hours a day tuned in, almost as much as they spend in school.

Chris Hoenig, FOX News Radio.