Most people, if they have ever looked at a T.V. for too long, have been told that it would rot their brain. But does it really rot it? Well, it turns out your brain isn’t going to rot like a fruit, but there is evidence of it being harmful to your brain when you are young.

According to an article on Scientificamerican.com  watching T.V. at a young age, for prolonged amounts of time, can increase the chance of the child being more antisocial, obese and of having mental health problems. Also, “Previous studies have shown that for each additional hour of television watched in childhood, the odds of developing symptoms of depression increase by 8 percent and the odds of being convicted of a crime increase by 27 percent. And other findings suggest that for every two hours watched in one’s youth, the odds of developing type 2 diabetes increase by 20 percent.”

So, it does seem like watching too much T.V. can lead to some major problems later on in life, but in a recent study they tested pairs of siblings to see any genetic correlation between a person and T.V. The test showed that there seems to be a correlation between people’s genetics and T.V. In the article, they said, “Children with increased predisposition toward aggressive behavior may be more drawn to TV.”

“Similarly, those who are genetically inclined to depression or obesity may be more likely to spend their free time watching T.V. in the family room rather than shooting hoops on the basketball court.”

So, there’s evidence that the problems found in the original research would have happened anyway because that’s in their genetics.

The answer to the question of if T.V. rots your brain or not, seems to be that T.V. can have harmful effects on your brain if you watch it for too long at a young age, but also whatever might happen to you because of watching T.V. might happen to you anyway.

For more information, please visit:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-tv-rot-your-brain/