TV and GCSEs

[loobylou]

Did you see this today?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-34139196" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I don't think it makes it very clear. Is it an extra hour ON TOP of the average of 4 hours of leisure time watching TV or on the computer? Or an extra hour at any point ie 2 hours are worse than 1 and 3 hours are worse than 2?

And who on earth has time to spend 4 hours a day of leisure time in front of a TV? Dd gets home at 4.30. If you factor in eating, talking and showering quite apart from homework / clubs then there is nowhere near enough time to spend 4 hours in front of a screen!

[BlueSmarties]

And who on earth has time to spend 4 hours a day of leisure time in front of a TV? Dd gets home at 4.30. If you factor in eating, talking and showering quite apart from homework / clubs then there is nowhere near enough time to spend 4 hours in front of a screen!

My thoughts exactly! And then I spot DD with her mobile phone glued to her hand, reading on Wattpad She can easily do that for several hours (as she also does with a book at other times).

More than 4 hours a day sounds excessive, but during the holidays I'm sure my kids will have a go at that figure!

[Tolstoy]

Sorry but really! I don't think it takes a couple of years of research to work out an extra hour spent studying rather than watching T.v et al makes for better results


... and yes some DC do manage to squeeze in many hours of screen time. Perhaps they could spend sometime working out how to stop DC obsessively watching t.v or playing these games. Way more useful.

[mumsdarling2]

Could the purpose of the study be to quantify the drop so that it has an impact on parents and children? It might get ignored if one says that too much TV is not good but the message might sound very different when conveyed in terms of grades.

[russet]

There seemed to be no distinguishing in what TV they were watching or screen time they were doing. I would argue that programmes presented by Alice Roberts or Jim Al-Khalili are actually helping dd's learning, if only in providing the hooks onto which she can hang the rest of her learning.
There is lots of online learning out there, all of which involves screen time. It is no use just clumping it altogether in quantity, you have to look at quality as well.

[salsa]

I guess if you are watching TV for four hours you won't have much time for homework, exercise and/or sleep. (Teenagers need 9 hours, apparently and children under 10 need at least 10 hours sleep)
I agree that if you are watching something which is educational it is positive, however, what is important is when you watch it as it can affect the quality of your sleep and ability to store what's been learnt.

From the learning point of view some studies found that retention of learnt material is negatively affected after playing computer games. In fact, they are also affected after watching television, but less so. The same thing goes for sleep. I found this program interesting.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05r3wgr" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Moon unit]

Just listened to the podcast Salsa. Great to hear the evidence for and against.