I couldn't believe my eyes when I first saw promos for an infant cable channel, BabyFirst TV. First established in 2006, it's a channel aimed specifically at children who can barely crawl. Their website claims the programming has been developed by "education experts" and as a bonus it is commercial free. Yes the commercials would have been so much more detrimental to the development of the infant brain.
I wonder who the experts were that the network hired to program the channel? They certainly weren't members of the American Academy of Pediatrics, who have specifically come out against any television viewing for children under the age of two. The so called experts also didn't do any academic research on the subject of TV viewing in infants and toddlers or they would have seen that there are multiple papers linking TV and development of ADHD later in life. The network obviously didn't consult with the Disney corporation, who had to recall all their Baby Einstein videos and send a refund for claiming the DVD's was educational for children. I won't even go into the numerous studies linking TV viewing and obesity.
Have we as a society become so harried that we will pay (it is a premium channel, not basic cable) to have the TV babysit our children for hours at a time? Even hiring a babysitter would be more stimulating to our children then plopping them in front of the LCD, assuming you didn't get one of those psycho babysitters. Unfortunately corporate thinkers have come to the conclusion that there is big money to be made broadcasting programs to pre-toddlers, future of America be damned. They'll just leave it to the insurance companies and government to clean up the mess later by spending billions of dollars on obesity and ADHD related illnesses.
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