Television in Their Bedrooms: Good or Bad?

Thinking of giving your child a television of his own soon? While many parents allow TV in the bedroom, others are dead set against it. If your child has been begging for one, you might actually want to rethink any plans of giving in. Experts say that television, along with smartphones, computers and tablets, in a child’s bedroom is actually a very bad idea.

In the United States alone, studies have shown that 70 percent of children have TVs in their bedrooms, and those with a TV in the bedroom tend to watch it more. Youngsters between the ages of 5 and 18 who have televisions in their bedrooms are up to 2.5 times more likely than others to have larger waists and more fat mass. Those who watched TV more than five hours a day were at twice the risk for fat around their internal organs, a dangerous precursor for heart disease and diabetes.

Kansas City mom Danell McCulloh says she allows TV in her daughters’ bedroom only a few times per month. “I sometimes hook up the portable TV in their bedroom at bedtime for a movie so that I can watch a show on the living room television,” she says. “We only have Netflix and DVDs, so there’s not much risk that they’re going to stumble onto anything bad. I let them make suggestions on what to watch, but I have the final say.”

Blue Springs mom Elizabeth Clark says, “Both of my daughters have TVs in their bedrooms. My 10-year-old has one, and she usually only watches shows on Saturday mornings; never on school nights. My 17-year-old has had her own TV since she had surgery four years ago. She was confined to bed for a month. She now watches her TV with fewer rules than her sister,” she says.

The American Academy of Pediatrics frowns on TVs in the bedroom, though, and believes that children’s TV viewing should be limited to less than two hours a day, ideally in a central location with parents watching, too. Why is this important? Parents who put a television in a child’s room may have difficulty restricting viewing times, monitoring viewing content and enforcing a set bedtime. Plus, watching television at night may delay a child’s production of melatonin, making it more difficult for a child to fall asleep.

A study done by Stanford University School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins University suggests that if your child has a TV in his bedroom, he may not perform as well on standardized tests. Children with TV sets in the bedroom scored between seven and nine points lower on standardized reading and math tests than children without television sets in the bedroom. In another study involving adolescent children, it was shown that those with a TV in the bedroom were more than twice as likely to smoke cigarettes than those without television sets in the bedroom. Of the 700 middle school students studied, 42 percent of kids with TVs in the bedroom smoked, while only 16 percent of kids without a TV in the bedroom smoked.

Liberty mom Patti Stark says television is a no-no in her son’s bedroom. “Our son's room is a place for him to rest his mind, body and spirit. TV accomplishes none of those things. His room is filled with things that inspire sleep, spiritual nourishment and love.”

“No TVs for us,” says Lee’s Summit dad Brian Conaty. “We would never see the girls. I don't think they really want one either. It would take away from great family time.”

It’s important to remember, too, that smartphones, computers and tablets have the same effects as television in a child’s bedroom. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents establish “screen-free” zones at home by making sure there are no TVs, computers or video games in children’s bedrooms and by turning off the TV during dinner. Children and teens should engage with entertainment media for no more than one or two hours per day. It’s important for kids to spend time playing outdoors, reading, working on hobbies and using their imaginations. Television and other media should be avoided for infants and children under the age of 20. A child’s brain develops rapidly during these first years, and little ones learn best by interacting with people, not screens.

Liberty mom and author Gina Klein does not allow televisions or any other types of media in her daughters’ bedrooms and strongly believes in parental controls.