If you think a cartoon about a sponge that lives in a pineapple in the sea is a but ludicrous, you probably have not seen SpongeBob SquarePants. The story follows a sponge that wears pants that are in the shape of a square and his adventures under the sea.
This cartoon has been popular for kids, but dizzying for parents. Parents have been downing on cartoons for ages, calling them a waste of time and mind numbing. A little obsessive and controlling? Not so fast. Now a recent study shows that watching SpongeBob has a negative affect on kids.
After only watching nine minutes of the cartoon, children showed signs of short term attention deficit. Here’s how the study went down: 60 four year old children were randomly assigned to do one of the three: watch SpongeBob, watch another more calm PBS cartoon or draw pictures for nine minutes. Right after these tasks, the children were given a test on their mental functions. The results? The kids who watched SpongeBob did significantly worse than those who did the other two tasks.
What does this mean? A typical episode of SpongeBob is jam packed with action and frenzy. This much chaos is detrimental to the mental cognition of young children.
Well, SpongeBob is not taking this lying down. His spokesperson tries to discredit the claims, saying the crazy cartoon is meant for 6-11 year olds, not four year old children, making this study moot. He also complains that the sample size was too small for any conclusive evidence.
Regardless of the age, attention deficit disorders are taking over elementary schools. Some argue that attention deficit disorders are overdiagnosed, while others ague that it was under diagnosed in the past. One thing is for certain: this is a serious matter affecting young children, parents and schools alike.
SpongeBob is not the big bad world of ADD, the only problem that parents and teachers face. Nowadays, it seems that every kid is hopped up on sugar, running around with a crazed look on their faces. Which can significantly affect attention deficit. But before you label your kid with a disorder, here are a few lifestyle choices that are affecting children’s attention spans:
1. Diet. Sugary cereals, processed foods and artificial flavoring in favor of whole grains, fruits and vegetables has really messed with our society’s body. Eating right is good for your body AND your mind, and the same goes for kids. No wonder some kids have a hard time focusing in school when they just ate three times the amount of sugar they should have in a day, all before 8 a.m. Considering switching out some sugary sweets for a more balanced diet.
2. Entertainment. Kids these days are always entertained by something whether it is video games or television, they crave the stimulation. So when they are forced to sit in a classroom without these constant stimulants, their focus is very off.
If you have ruled out environmental triggers, whip out your corporate or self employed health insurance cards to schedule a diagnosis with your doctor to get real answers.