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Heavy TV watching associated with smaller brain structures, study finds

dornsife.usc.edu

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Re: Heavy TV watching associated with smaller brain structures, study finds

#61

Post by [deleted] »

haunter wrote: post #27

Interestingly there is no mention of semantics or what does actually "TV watching" mean. I have friends who self admittedly don't "watch TV" but they watch every single hyped up Netflix series available. Are they watching TV? By this study they probably not. Are they watching TV? I'd say most likely yes, they also use the device called TV to watch Netflix

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Re: Heavy TV watching associated with smaller brain structures, study finds

#63

Post by GeoAtreides »

haunter wrote: post #27

Interestingly there is no mention of semantics or what does actually "TV watching" mean. I have friends who self admittedly don't "watch TV" but they watch every single hyped up Netflix series available. Are they watching TV? By this study they probably not. Are they watching TV? I'd say most likely yes, they also use the device called TV to watch Netflix

>Participants were asked how frequently, on a scale ranging from “never/seldom” to “very often,” they watched television during their leisure time and how much of their workday they spent sitting.

Re: Heavy TV watching associated with smaller brain structures, study finds

#64

Post by andor »

tptacek wrote: post #19
dozerly wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand the difference, but in this case it’s not a good look for TV viewing regardless

What does that even mean? If people with cognitive deficits have a powerful idiosyncratic preference for pineapple juice, that's not a bad look for pineapple juice.

In a way, that's true. Drinking a lot of juice, or soft drinks, is not ideal, and when I see an overweight person drinking straight from a large juice bottle, that reaffirms my belief. It would be socially unacceptable to judge this behavior as being caused by cognitive deficits, but you could argue that such people are acting against their own interests (which is a very human thing to do, we're not machines).

The case of watching a lot of TV is a bit different though because it's about attention. Time is limited and it makes a difference whether I do something intellectually stimulating or not. If I spend 8 hours per day creating things, writing software, learning languages, etc., that is going to develop my brain in a different way than 8 hours of watching TV does.

Now to the point about the bad look: even if the study could not prove a causal relationship, why would you even risk it? There is little to gain from watching lots of TV and you'll end up healthier and happier by prioritizing other things.

Re: Heavy TV watching associated with smaller brain structures, study finds

#66

Post by joshspankit »

haunter wrote: post #27

Interestingly there is no mention of semantics or what does actually "TV watching" mean. I have friends who self admittedly don't "watch TV" but they watch every single hyped up Netflix series available. Are they watching TV? By this study they probably not. Are they watching TV? I'd say most likely yes, they also use the device called TV to watch Netflix

I’d even say that YouTube autoplay is “watching TV”

Re: Heavy TV watching associated with smaller brain structures, study finds

#68

Post by Fnoord »

al_borland wrote: post #43
haunter wrote: post #27

Interestingly there is no mention of semantics or what does actually "TV watching" mean. I have friends who self admittedly don't "watch TV" but they watch every single hyped up Netflix series available. Are they watching TV? By this study they probably not. Are they watching TV? I'd say most likely yes, they also use the device called TV to watch Netflix

Netflix is TV for the modern era, I don’t know who they think they’re kidding. It’s like the slogan, “it’s not TV. It’s HBO.” I haven’t had home television service for nearly 20 years, but I watch my TV constantly. It’s the same thing with a different delivery mechanism.

Aye, though supposedly without the ads. But with filler episodes. You wanted to waste less time, instead you get tricked. Then there's the cancelled after S1 thing which is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Re: Heavy TV watching associated with smaller brain structures, study finds

#69

Post by nephihaha »

dredmorbius wrote: post #59
nephihaha wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The island of Saint Helena only started getting TV relatively recently, so some studies have been done on children there to compare effects.

Since 1995, per Wikipedia, citing Wireless South Atlantic press release and St. Helena Broadcasting Corporation Ltd. sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_in_Saint_Helena... > Total population (2021): 4,439. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Helena > Additional areas: South Africa and Tanzania saw television introduced relatively recently, 1975 and 1994 respectively. Those would be larger population…

A lot of these places have gradual introduction as well. There were parts of the UK without a proper TV signal well into the 1980s.

Mid 1990s is earlier than I thought. Places like Tristan da Cunha and Pitcairn Island may be even later.

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