Dr. Dimitri Christakis Explains Why Television Is Bad for Babies' Brains
By Makini Brice Recovered by: Alberto Hadad-School Principal Colegio San José Interview: Dr. Dimitri Christakis Explains Why Television Is Bad for Babies' Brains Late last year, the American Academy of Pediatrics released their first guideline in 10 years on child-rearing, stating that it was inadvisable to let children under the age of two watch television . Now Dr. Dimitri Christakis, director of the Center for Childhood Health, Behavior, and Development at the Seattle Children's Research Institute, and professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington, explains why. His research, which will be published this week in Scientific Reports , was inspired by research published that, through observational studies, had concluded that television-watching early in life led to attention problems later in life. However, it is difficult to determine causality from observational studies. Moreover, it is unethical to test babies to see if they can cause behavioral pr