Television Addiction: Signs and Symptoms in Children

Addictions are typically not a type of health complication that we associate with children. With more and more children engaging in entertainment that is sedentary, there is a significant rise in the number of hours that children spend watching TV each day. If you are the parent of a child who has a complication with sleeping and watching television excessively, it may be prudent to consider how television addiction is plaguing your child's health.

When a person suffers from an addiction, of any type, there is not only a mental health response but also a physical response when the addiction is present. Addictions, unlike habits, create a change in the pleasure pathways of the brain that can cause one's body to crave the item or event excessively. When not given the stimulation, the pleasure pathway can cause physiological changes in a person that includes sweats, tremors, and irritability.

In a child who has a television addiction, you will see both a mental health component to the addiction as well as a physical component. For a child who simply likes to watch TV, but then willingly moves to other activities without cause for concern, there is most likely not an addiction concern. But, for a child who has a physiological response to the removal of a television from their home, addiction is a concern and further therapy and treatment may be needed.

A child can develop a television addiction fairly easily as the pleasure pathway in the brain is very impressionable in the young mind. When permitted to watch more than an hour of television per day, your child may be at-risk for developing the addiction without a parent even realizing it. If your child has physical health complications when you prohibit the viewing of television for a few days, then an addiction concern needs to be addressed by a physician.

Adults and children, alike, are subjected to addictions to television especially as we become more and more sedentary. Children should never be permitted to watch more than an hour of television each day as this will not only prevent an addiction from developing, but will also free up time for your child to engage in other, more healthy, activities. Always limit TV watching and, when your child has signs of addiction, seek out pediatric mental health services.

Sources: Remotely Controlled, by Aric Sigman