October 1st, 2022 | Allan ray

why your children should never watch television

Even a few hours a day can turn off important functions within the human brain.

The amount of suggestibility and hypnosis we have seen among those in our society could be attributed directly to the invention of the television. We are not going to talk about propaganda and mass media as direct causes, but rather the scientific and underlying effects that television, as a technology, has on the human brain. It is this subtle and dangerous effect that makes modern propaganda more effective.

The work of controversial Australian scientist, W. Ross Adey, has shined light on the biological and neurological effects of television on the human brain. His studies have revealed higher rates of epileptic episodes among those diagnosed with the condition and whose television habits exceed those of an average person. It has been long thought that a television's flicker rate is so fast and small that it cannot be perceived and, therefore, cannot affect the human brain. However, Adey has proven through his work with epilepsy that a television's flicker does, in fact, cause a higher frequency of epileptic seizures in those with epilepsy.

This means that a television's flicker rate is indeed perceived and experienced by the human brain, albeit on a subconscious level.

For children of the 1990s, a television's scan and flicker was well observed on an old fashioned camcorder. When video-taping a television, many have noticed a darkened black bar that scans downwards, or sideways, on a television screen. This effect is created by the conflict of frame rates between the television and the camcorder. A television's image is “scanned” across the screen at a rate that we cannot consciously notice, but that puts one single and consistent series of image into our minds. Through a camcorder, that scan is partially captured.

For your subconscious brain, a series of repetitious flickers are being observed and constructed. Those rapid scans and repetitious patterns put your brain into an Alpha state, a state of relaxation and suppressed thinking. In the Alpha state, the brain turns off the processes that are normally at work during high concentration and daily problem solving.

Think of yourself sitting in a dimly lit living room, everything is quiet, your body is relaxed and you are watching a series of rapid, pulsating scans flicker across a television screen. Some may argue that we are in fact entering a soft state of hypnosis when this happens. We are purposefully putting ourselves into a relaxed state and allowing ourselves to be influenced by a third party. To some, watching television is a form of remote hypnosis being conducted by artists, corporations and higher powers with specific intentions.

In essence, television and film induce a soft, hypnotic trance.

When we watch television, we become enthralled and focuses on the images that are flickering on the screen. The sounds that come out of the speakers become important and they drown out the other sounds, noises and perceptions of the surrounding environment. We become fixated and highly suggestible. When watching fictional programs, in particular, we are being steered and influenced to follow characters through artificial environments, all while we become emotionally invested in their actions, personas and destinies. We feel what they feel and we acquire their personalities, their hopes, their intentions and their behaviours. Even if it is for a short while, this process causes complete disassociation and a near total disconnection from reality. Over time, as a habit, it begins to influence our behaviours and permanently affect our brains.

Perhaps this is why so many children imitate and adopt the behaviours of their favourite television characters.

Even if television is not inducing a state of hypnosis, it has been proven that many of the brain's critical functions are turned off during our time in front of a screen. Now imagine a young child, whose brain is still in the phase of critical development, being plopped down in front of a television for countless hours at a time. The longer a child spends in a suppressed Alpha state, the less able their brain becomes to independently solve common problems. Through the process of habit, their brains fail to develop and habituate common problem-solving skills, critical thoughts and uninfluenced analysis.

By spending more time in Alpha and Theta states, the conscious and high functioning Beta state becomes progressively more foreign to the human brain, making concentration and critical analysis more difficult to sustain.

Recent scientific studies have shown lower volumes of “gray matter” in the brains of middle-aged adults who spend too much time watching television. According to studies from the John Hopkins Bloomberg School Of Public Health, those who watch an above-average amount of television have reduced volumes in their frontal cortex and entorhinal cortex. Similar studies have found that adults who watch abnormal amounts of television are more likely to develop severe cognitive decline in their senior years.

For now, we can only imagine the long term effects of television on the brains of developing children.

The importance of keeping children active and away from television should have been emphasized by scientists and by teachers throughout our childhoods, but it has seldom turned up in the important conversations between teachers, pupils and parents. Nowadays, it is hardly discussed by doctors and media. Aside from telling us to be more active, doctors and teachers have failed at educating us about the psychological hazards involved with watching too much television. Many will continue to brush it off as unproven, or as more conspiracy theorist malarkey, but by educating themselves and transferring their knowledge into action, parents will be able to make more informed decisions and raise a wiser generation.

It would also be wise to consider the motives of scientists, doctors and politicians who could find value and power in having entire generations stuck in front of these little brainwashing boxes.

Hear it from doctors by starting with this link about the harmful effects of television on children.