Idiot Box Makes Kids Violent, Says Study # 11,329

Ever since the boob tube was invented, people have been trying to blame it for all kinds of societal ills. The result has been a near constant stream of studies by social scientists proving that TV is just bad, and especially heinous for children. ScienceDaily is reporting a new study about the effects of TV watching on three year-olds:

Three-year-old children who are exposed to more TV appear to be at an increased risk for exhibiting aggressive behavior, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Well, maybe. It appears that TV viewing among kids is at an eight year high. But if watching a lot of TV increases aggression, one might think that the deleterious effects would appear in other social statistics, not just chiefly in social psychology studies.

The University of Virginia has rounded up some recent school violence statistics and finds, that for the most part, school violence is way down. It is true that bullying statistics are up, but the researchers suggest that that may be the result of better monitoring and reporting by school officials, rather than actually measuring an increase. It is a puzzle.