The Washington Times creepaziods. April 14, 2006
....digital media can deprive children of sleep, opportunities to communicate with others and play outdoors, which can affect their physical and mental development, said Children and Media, a nonprofit organization in Fukuoka on Kyushu, the third largest of Japan's four main islands.
Later bedtimes---Children and Media's 2004 study for the government found that roughly one in four primary and middle-school pupils spent more than six hours per day in contact with various media. That pushes back the youngsters' normal bedtime, the group said. For example, only 25 percent of children in fourth grade and 10 percent of those in sixth grade go to bed before 9 p.m., the study discovered.
"Children stay up that late because they keep watching TV," said Mariko Yamada, executive director of Children and Media and professor of clinical psychology at Kyushu Otani Junior College. German counterparts told her that German children usually go to bed between 7:30 and 8 p.m.
Asked about the bedtime of Japanese children, "I could not say that their average bedtime was actually 9:40 p.m. so I said 9 p.m.," she recalled. "Still, they were appalled." The average bedtime for 3- to 5 year-olds has now passed 10 p.m., she said. The loss of sleep "is believed to cause more children to have concentration problems and behavioral disorders, becoming upset or impulsive."...more...
