Over 16,540,131 people are on fubar.
What are you waiting for?
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 four-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, air yeezy 2011 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. The results should be interpreted cautiously because of the study's small size, but the data seem robust and bolster the idea that media exposure is a public health issue, said Dr Dimitri Christakis. Article continues below.
