Is there any really educational TV?

According to Sigman, who bases his assertions on studies published by medics from some of America's leading universities as well as his own worldwide research, science now suggests the quality of television children watch is of little consequence. ... He points to the Tellytubbies, the globally successful toddler TV series hailed for its innovation and educational value, but also the subject of several warning studies including one by two Harvard academics entitled "Say No To Tellytubbies".

"Medical evidence is growing that for young children, being exposed to TV, computers and DVDs, -- irrespective of the quality of the programme -- has an impact on their health and development," he said. ... "There is a definite inverse relationship between time spent watching any kind of television or screen when you are young and your ability to read and concentrate when you are older."

... Studies of brain activity have shown that a child doing simple mental arithmetic with coloured counters or beans has greater blood flow to the brain than one engaged what may look like a far more complex computer game, he says.

- Excerpted from: Reuters, Psychologist warns of "educational television" myth