Are Big Bird And The Teletubbies Causing Autism?
Gregg Easterbrook thinks there is significant evidence for that provocative idea. Today, Cornell University researchers are reporting what appears to be a statistically significant relationship between autism rates and television watching by children under the age of 3. The researchers studied autism incidence in California, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington state. They found that as cable television became common in California and Pennsylvania beginning around 1980, childhood autism rose more in the counties that had cable than in the counties that did not. They further found that in all the Western states, the more time toddlers spent in front of the television, the more likely they were to exhibit symptoms of autism disorders. I haven’t read the report, but I’ll try to get a copy of it to see how strong the evidence is. If Easterbrook is right in his description, then there is certainly enough evidence to show that we should, at the very least, investigate this possible connectio
Gregg Easterbrook thinks there is significant evidence for that provocative idea. Today, Cornell University researchers are reporting what appears to be a statistically significant relationship between autism rates and television watching by children under the age of 3. The researchers studied autism incidence in California, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington state. They found that as cable television became common in California and Pennsylvania beginning around 1980, childhood autism rose more in the counties that had cable than in the counties that did not. They further found that in all the Western states, the more time toddlers spent in front of the television, the more likely they were to exhibit symptoms of autism disorders. I haven’t read the report, but I’ll try to get a copy of it to see how strong the evidence is. If Easterbrook is right in his description, then there is certainly enough evidence to show that we should, at the very least, investigate this possible connectio
