The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Massachusetts,looked at the behaviour of 50 children up to the age of three while theyplayed with toys for an hour. A game show played in the background forhalf of the time and was switched off for the other half hour. Twohidden video cameras were used to monitor the children's behaviour.
Researchers found that when the television was on in the background thetoy play of the children at every age was disrupted, even though thechildren looked at the television for only a few seconds at a time andless than once per minute. When the television was on, the childrenplayed for significantly shorter periods of time and the time they spentfocused on their play was shorter, compared with when the television wasoff.
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