Aspies For Freedom

I've only read the Slate article.  It's here:  http://www.slate.com/id/2151538/

But researchers at Cornell University are proposing that autism correlates with the amount of time a young child views television.  The slate article does stress that correlation does not mean cause and effect, and that other indoor factors might be triggering the statistical rise and fall of reported autism.  

The meat of the Slate article is this:

"But the fact that rising household access to cable television seems to associate with rising autism does not reveal anything about how viewing hours might link to the disorder. The Cornell team searched for some independent measure of increased television viewing. In recent years, leading behavioral economists such as Caroline Hoxby and Steven Levitt* have used weather or geography to test assumptions about behavior. Bureau of Labor Statistics studies have found that when it rains or snows, television viewing by young children rises. So Waldman studied precipitation records for California, Oregon, and Washington state, which, because of climate and geography, experience big swings in precipitation levels both year-by-year and county-by-county. He found what appears to be a dramatic relationship between television viewing and autism onset. In counties or years when rain and snow were unusually high, and hence it is assumed children spent a lot of time watching television, autism rates shot up; in places or years of low precipitation, autism rates were low. Waldman and Nicholson conclude that "just under 40 percent of autism diagnoses in the three states studied is the result of television watching." Thus the study has two separate findings: that having cable television in the home increased autism rates in California and Pennsylvania somewhat, and that more hours of actually watching television increased autism in California, Oregon, and Washington by a lot."

The above quotes unfortunately fly in the face that correlation IS NOT cause and effect.  And I hope that they were taken out of context.  Otherwise I know two researchers who shouldn't have tenure.

On a side note:  all of those hours of watching 'I Love Lucy', 'Leave It to Beaver', and 'Gilligan's Island' made me the logical thinker I am today?  Er, right...<sarcasm>

That's pretty ironic. I wasn't much of a TV watcher when I was little. Sure, I would watch Blue's Clues occasionally when I was little, but I didn't practically live in front of the TV like most kids. I would much rather watch movies than TV.

Wait, that might be it. Movies. I watch lots and lots and lots of movies.

Wait a minute, upon reading the exerpt again, the article specifically says cable television. Never mind.

~*~

RANDOM INFORMATION: I remember, when I was really little, maybe three or something, I was watching a TV show and was repeating the English dialogue in Polish. When a character called for his Dad, I said, "Tata!" really loud, and my Dad came running. xD

I could really have been watching the show, not really listening to the TV dialogue, just inventing Polish dialogue for it based on what was visually happening.

They were not taken out of context.  There is a reason why these two quacks are not working in a psychology, psychiatry, sociology, or anthropology department.  They have no models, no science. All they did was find a correlation and pretend to have found a cause.

Thanks, Dogface.  Hadn't had time to bury down to the original Cornell paper.  Makes me wonder about their statistical ability too.  It would have been interesting if there was a correlation between the 'opportunity' to watch too much TV and the local rise in the incidence of autism.  Kinda like the fact that more babies are born in the spring than any time of the year, and that's also the time the storks migrate through Britian.

My point exactly!

Most of the stereotypes NTs create about people come from what they see on TV. Autists (one letter away from artist! =D) generally don't have the interest to just sit around and watch TV all day. NTs do.

okay first off meiloyn, am i really htat old that i can't imagine someone who was young when blues clues was around being old enough to post on this forum?  :shock:

sencond, i'd say 99% of children watch excessive amounts of tv these days. if they want to blame tv for causing something maybe they should research passivity, boredom, lack of indipendent thought, the disapearence of creativity, consumerism as religion..............not autism.

I am 13 years old. O.o

Blues Clues started airing in 1996. I was three then.

"This does not indicate cause and effect."

I'm not implying anything particular without proof, merely speculating...

"Cause and effect" can work either way. Perhaps the cause does not come from TV, but any correlation COULD be a greater tendency of those on the spectrum to enjoy indoor activities rather than sports??

I was 8 or even older when we had our first TV, and I simply got disappointed and bored with it very quickly.
As adult, I´ve never had TV- I simply have no interest for it, as a matter of fact it makes me rather sick (physically as well!!!) although some documentaries are nice to watch sometimes.

Movies I also like only occasionally- usually watching movies is exhausting, even when it´s a good one.

I used to watch alot of tele, but I now watch it rarely.

I will watch it if there is a good film, documentary or comedy.

I use my tele for playing my computer games and DVDs.

My first TV-memories should date to the late 1960ies. I think I remember the landing on the moon.

We used to have a late meal while watching TV and me and my elder brother where not allowed to wander away. We had to attend this meal whether we wanted it or not. We shared room too so I have never had my own 100% private place to reatreat to.

I did watch a lot of TV growing up but it did not cause my Aspergers. I do not think it has anything to do with the causes of Aspergers.

The only thing worth mentioned when it comes to Asperger and TV is that we view the TV and what it is showing differently than people that are not on the spectrum.

I believe that maybe the correlation may be that it makes people more used to being an observer in social situations and eats up time they could be in one participating but then again I never did watch all that much t.v.

I don't know if the ads weren't as bad when I was younger but I certainly have a lot less tolerance for them now and that is why I do not generally like watching the commercial channels.

Weekdays: In the morning I watch the news, which is only 5 minutes or so, and in the evening I watch the simpsons and the news again.
Weekends: There's virtually nothing on.
I also watch Top Gear and various comedy shows, but that's about it.

I never watched TV all that much as a kid, I found most of the kids' shows purile and uninteresting, and we've never had more than the standard 5 channels. Though by 2011 in my area we'll have to buy some sort of cable, sky, satellite or freeview (30+) channels, otherwise there'll be no TV at all.

At the most, I watch one program consistently (Lost) and all others I don't have the patience or low intellect to enjoy.

Hey, since people are so paranoid as to acuse the TV of cauing something, let's examine a correlation that's actually true- how about the correlation of TV and making people FAT? C'mon- that shoudl be an actual concern!