| Six-year-old TV addicts prefer blank screen to a human face |
[Nov. 9th, 2006|03:08 pm] |
Children are now so addicted to television that they would prefer to look at a blank screen than a smiling human face, a new study has found.
The results, described by scientists as deeply worrying, appear to show that youngsters are distancing themselves from interaction with real people because of their constant diet of television.
Researchers found that they reacted as enthusiastically to the image of a television as alcoholics do to pictures of drink.
Previous studies indicated that from birth, people will choose to look at human faces in favour of an object.
But the latest year-long project by academics found that when children were confronted with images of a friendly face and a blank TV set, they were more drawn to the screen.
The first experiment involved 34 five-year-olds, 25 eight-year-olds and 34 adults, who were shown a series of picture cards.
Scientists paired images of smiling human faces with those of a toy boat, a toy train, a doll's house, a tap, a teapot and a wall clock. Without exception, the subjects all responded best to the face.
But in a second test where 22 adults and 145 children aged between five and eight were shown cards pairing a face and a television set, the youngsters looked at the TV first.
Dr Markus Bindemann, of Glasgow University, which carried out the research with Stirling University, said: "It is perhaps not surprising that it is televisions which compete with faces for children's attention. But this is a worrying trend.
"We learn social interaction - how to deal with people and how to read them - from looking at their faces.
"If you just stare at a box, you don't get any genuine interactions. In the long-run that's got to have pretty dire consequences."
Dr Martin Doherty, a psychology lecturer at Stirling University, added: "In all previous research children showed a preference for faces so we tried to come with other stimulus that people would find as interesting.
"For instance, if you were an obsessive trainspotter, you might look to a picture of a locomotive more than the face.
"Or if you were an alcoholic you might look first at a picture of beer.
"This study shows in very simple terms that for children of a certain age there is more interest in television than in people."
Other recent studies have linked a growth in autism with the number of hours children spend watching the box.
And the notion that children learn by watching TV was recently dispelled by research that showed learning skills, such as language, were best accomplished by interaction with adults.
Dr Bindemann said: "Certainly some disorders are caused by impaired social interactions.
"And looking at TV rather than faces is a type of social impairment because you are becoming less interested in what should be more important to you.
"Being able to interact with people is a prerequisite for success at a personal and professional level." |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 14th, 2006|11:16 pm] |
new obsession:
it is limited edition and i cant seem to find one anywhere. last hope, go to the designer and harass him.
my first day of work was good. very good.
now i have to study for midterms and go to my second day of work (tuesday).
easy, right?
yeah. |
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| meowls. |
[May. 14th, 2006|06:18 pm] |
the kitties have gotten bigger! they no longer look like large rats. ;)
they are about 2 weeks now.
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| meow mix. |
[May. 3rd, 2006|11:22 pm] |
little grey kitty with a white tipped tail! look at his/her claws!
my favorite, the tiger:
the herd!
MEOW! |
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| double duty. |
[May. 2nd, 2006|06:23 am] |
meow!
yesterday, SIX new kittens were born into our family (yes, i said OUR family, i am creepy when it comes to my kitty).
two black, two half tiger (black with grey stripes), one full tiger and one grey!
super cute!
when they are weaned, they will be up for adoption. that is in about six weeks. if anyone knows a good home for one or more (up to five, we are keeping one) please let me know!!!
they are way cuter than this picture depicts, hehe. poor mama is tired. :(
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| long time. |
[Apr. 25th, 2006|07:07 pm] |
hello.
how have you all been?
mmhm.
so...
matt and i have a pregnant (former stray) cat named "meowl". she is black (actually dark brown/red) with green eyes and a few missing teeth. she came to us one cold night and meowed herself into our lives. when we took her to get spayed, we discovered it was much too late. our little mama should have kittens in the next few days. she is almost offensively affectionate. i think she will be a good mom.
we also recently purchased a 37 gallon fish tank. i am normally anti-tank but the filter sounds calm matt's nerves and fish are awfully nice to look at. unfortunately, we dont have the fish yet. we have to wait until this weekend to pick them up. we are getting oscars. they are mean.
i am (today) obsessed with:
- kazuma jewelry (specifically this piece which i am trying to procure from japan):
- micronauts:
i dyed my hair pink and purple and black and my bangs are much too long. i work at kustom kulture gallery with matt, now. i am being trained to do the wholesale ordering, general managing and i help with the clients. i am letting my eye brows grow in thick - i just decided that now. i have been modeling here and there and should be in a few tattoo magazines, soon.
i may go back to school...
i miss riding my bike.
this weekend i am going to china town. |
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| new tattoo. |
[Jan. 26th, 2006|08:36 pm] |
looks better in person - as usual. im not so great with the camera.
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| FOR JELLIED: |
[Nov. 16th, 2005|10:57 pm] |
what do you know/think about this!?
“Rollergirls” is the new non-scripted drama series coming to A&E in January '06!
http://www.txrd.com/ |
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| memoirs. |
[Oct. 30th, 2005|01:45 pm] |
i always wanted a way to save my lj and print it in a coherent manner - well, here it is!
http://ljbook.com/ |
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| crystals! |
[Oct. 16th, 2005|10:34 am] |
matt and i are making crystals tonight:
matt mixing:
simone measuring:
mwahahaha.
they start growing in a few hours. ill post some pics when they appear. |
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| for the punx. |
[Oct. 12th, 2005|08:40 pm] |
can you believe this!? a rudimentary peni RING!?
amebix:
crass:
discharge:
rudimentary peni:
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 10th, 2005|06:40 pm] |
i copied this from mags...
list ten things that make you happy (in no particular order):
1. a neurotically clean apartment.
2. when snails come out in the rain.
3. ballet - dancing it.
4. the first sip of a freshly made cup of coffee.
5. orgasms/sex/snuggling/kissing/etc.
6. kryolan eyeshadow.
7. mimicking japanese people's accents with matt (frash right?).
8. matt (he is too a thing!).
9. new notebooks/pens.
10. jewelry shopping/wearing. |
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| was ist das? |
[Oct. 10th, 2005|04:43 am] |
i need to get the parisian version, too...
35th anniversary superstars. rad.
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| p.s. |
[Oct. 4th, 2005|03:45 am] |
i now have a thing for japanese blogs...which i cant read.
more striping:
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