More Evidence That TV is Dumbing Us Down

By Christina Lavers | Contributing Writer for Wake Up World

“Most people gaze neither into the past nor the future; they explore neither truth nor lies. They gaze at the television.” ~ Radiohead

Though many won’t want to believe it, it appears that science is again confirming the innate wisdom of many parents around the world who say “Switch off the TV, it’ll turn your brain to mush”. A long term study conducted by Tina D. Hoang (M.S.P.H.) of the Northern California Institute for Research and Education at the Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco, Kristine Yaffe (M.D.) of the University of California, San Francisco, and coauthors, investigated the relationships between 25-year patterns of television viewing, physical activity and midlife cognition.

The study surveyed the viewing habits of 3,247 young adults between the ages of 18 and 30 using a questionnaire to assess levels of television viewing and physical activity over a 25 year period. ‘High levels of television viewing’ was defined as more than three hours of screen time a day, and exercise was measured as units based on time and intensity. Cognitive function was measured after a 25 year period, using three tests that evaluated processing speed, executive function and verbal memory.

The authors state, “In this biracial cohort followed for 25 years, we found that low levels of physical activity and high levels of television viewing during young to mid-adulthood were associated with worse cognitive performance in midlife. In particular, these behaviors were associated with slower processing speed and worse executive function but not with verbal memory. Participants with the least active patterns of behavior (i.e., both low physical activity and high television viewing time) were the most likely to have poor cognitive function… Individuals with both low physical activity and high sedentary behavior may represent a critical target group”.

While the authors acknowledge that there are limitations to the study, including possible selection bias and the fact that the data was self-reported, it is more likely than not that the findings are accurate, especially considering the way the powers-that-be are clearly pursuing an agenda aimed at ‘dumbing down’ the world population.

While many people would like to think that television is just a cheap form of harmless news and entertainment, social scientists have long been aware of the fact that the media, and in particular television, are used as tools not just to subtly influence mass consciousness, but to manufacture individual mindsets that are malleable and compliant with the mainstream paradigm. The content shared on television is carefully designed by some of the best scientists in the world, using cutting edge knowledge of our psychological make-up, to ensure that the values and agendas of the elite are normalised and accepted as natural by the wider population.

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