Radiant light emitted by TV and computer screens

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Mr. PC
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Radiant light emitted by TV and computer screens

Post by Mr. PC »

I was reading this article about brain development in children, http://www.appliedmeditation.org/The_He ... arce.shtml
and it talks about how the radiant light from computer / TV screens entrain our brains to certain frequencies. Here's a quote
"Television literally prevents neural growth in the developing brains of children. When young children watch too much, it suppresses the capacity of their brains to create an internal image of some thing, or some one, or some event not presented to the sensory system by the environment, which is the essence of what we call "imagination." Researchers used to think that it was only the content of the programming that was negatively affecting children. Now we have ample evidence that the technology of the device is very harmful in and of itself. In other words, the simple act of watching television has profoundly negative effects on the physiology of human beings.

It's a long story, dating all the way back to the early 1960's when it was discovered that kids' minds go catatonic in front to the "tube." This has to do with the way that the brain reacts to radiant light, which is the light source of television and computer monitors, and reflected light, which is what brings us the rest of our visual experience. This is too complicated to go all the way into here, so let me just say that the brain tends to close down in response to radiant light sources. We've all seen how hypnotized children get when they watch television for any length of time.

My biggest concern has to do with the way the television industry countered this effect by introducing what are known as "startle effects" into children's programming. A startle effect is anything that triggers the brain into thinking that there might be an emergency out there and alerts it to pay special attention to the source of the disturbance.

Television accomplishes this with sudden and dramatic changes of intensity of light or sound and a rapid shifting of camera angles. Eventually, however, the brain starts habituating itself to the situation, realizing that these are just false alarms, and it starts to tune out again. As a result, every ten years or so the television industry has had to up the ante by making the startles bigger and bigger, until finally what we have are periodic bursts of violent imagery in children's cartoons and so on, to the point now where there are an average of sixteen bits of violence every half-hour. Here the nature of the program content does matter. While the higher brain, or neocortex, knows that the images on TV aren't real, the lower, or the "reptilian" brain does not. This means that when a child views violence on television, the reptilian brain sends a series of alarm messages up to the emotional brain, which in turn immediately contacts the heart. The moment the heart receives any indication of negativity or danger, it drops out of its usual harmonic mode into an incoherent one, triggering the release of the single most potent hormone in the human body, known as cortisol. Cortisol instantly wakes up the brain and causes it to produce trillions of neural links in order to ready the individual to face the emergency."
Can anyone confirm how true this is? Or how important it is; he doesn't mention the affect it has on the adult brain, but I've read similar accounts from different resources. I'm on the computer reading constantly, and do feel quite addicted to it. I would like to eliminate it, but it's such a valuable resource of information; the wai diet is just one of many things I would have never learned about without the internet. I'm also wondering if I could put some sort of thin paper in front of my monitor to disable the radiant light - if this would have any affect or be a wasted effort.
But mostly I just want to know how serious the affect is; I consider my mind extremely valuable and if the computer is having a serious negative affect on it I would rather go without the computer.
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RRM
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Re: Radiant light emitted by TV and computer screens

Post by RRM »

Seems totally bogus to me.
I couldnt find any related scientific information.
Did you find any scientific sources?
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Re: Radiant light emitted by TV and computer screens

Post by Mr. PC »

The only reference I've found to a scientific study was this, Krugman, Herbert E. “Brain wave Measures of Media Involvement,” Journal of Advertising Research 11.1 (1971): 3-9. Krugman later became manager of public opinion research at General Electric., which I haven't been able to find to verify on the internet.

Of course, my sources for scientific studies tend to be things like google - books/scholar.
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Re: Radiant light emitted by TV and computer screens

Post by Mr. PC »

So should I not be afraid of allowing my child to watch T.V.? I'm really afraid of having their brain development inhibited; I know there are some good educational programs, and especially on the internet there is a wealth of information, but if it's affecting their brain development it's definitely not worth it.
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Re: Radiant light emitted by TV and computer screens

Post by dime »

I watched a lot of TV until 18 years old or so, all seems fine with my brain so far. But I also read a lot of books until 11-12 (like really a lot, probably close to 1000), so maybe it compensated..
Maybe it's worth mentioning I learned to read quite early, around 3 and something years thanks to the TV (at home foreign movies are subtitled, so you have to read to understand them). So it's not all that bad I'd say :)
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Re: Radiant light emitted by TV and computer screens

Post by Mr. PC »

I'm still afraid of the T.V. for the above reason, although I know it's almost superstitious as there's no defining evidence. I just wish there was some kind of proof / evidence that nothing about the screen (radiant light, flicker rate) is harmful or addictive. I know that's not where the onus of proof is but still it would make me feel better.
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Re: Radiant light emitted by TV and computer screens

Post by Mr. PC »

What do you think about this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZmP-TYy ... ture=share

"It's been demonstrated that well within two minutes of watching television, most people enter a hypnotic alpha state bordering on theta, [a trance-like state induced by the flicker of the television broadcast signal]. Viewers in this state are no longer able to critically evaluate, discern, or pass judgement from their own moral database on the material being viewed. The information just flows, unimpeded, into their subconscious year in and year out." -Rense

Fall Of The Republic documents how an offshore corporate cartel is bankrupting the US economy by design. Leaders are now declaring that world government has arrived and that the dollar will be replaced by a new global currency.

President Obama has brazenly violated Article 1 Section 9 of the US Constitution by seating himself at the head of United Nations' Security Council, thus becoming the first US president to chair the world body.

A scientific dictatorship is in its final stages of completion, and laws protecting basic human rights are being abolished worldwide; an iron curtain of high-tech tyranny is now descending over the planet.

A worldwide regime controlled by an unelected corporate elite is implementing a planetary carbon tax system that will dominate all human activity and establish a system of neo-feudal slavery.

The image makers have carefully packaged Obama as the world's savior; he is the Trojan Horse manufactured to pacify the people just long enough for the globalists to complete their master plan.

This film reveals the architecture of the New World Order and what the power elite have in store for humanity. More importantly it communicates how We The People can retake control of our government, turn the criminal tide and bring the tyrants to justice."

Although I'll admit the maker of the video is somewhat of a nut, and there's still no evidence presented about the effects of TV on people's minds. Still, I feel intuitively that T.V.s do this to me, and it seems to do it to people I know as well.
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Re: Radiant light emitted by TV and computer screens

Post by Mr. PC »

What about this article?

http://www.thedryingroom.com/tv/Brin%20 ... rugman.pdf


which is sited here, in an article writing about the effects of T.V. in layman's terms.
http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/5jcl/5JCL59.htm

Krugman, Herbert E. “Brain wave Measures of Media Involvement,” Journal of Advertising Research.

I'm thinking of getting something like a Kindle, which doesn't Emmit light or have a flicker rate. I think that the effects would not translate onto such a medium. I'd appreciate it RRM if you were to read this over, as I trust your ability to reason and think critically more than anyone else I know.
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Re: Radiant light emitted by TV and computer screens

Post by panacea »

Those articles are complete lies.
You can read on autopilot without deep thought, without making connections or learning anything just as you can watch tv that way, or drive a car that way. It's a personal choice. You can also choose to ponder life's mysteries in the car or think deeply about the message and meaning of movies and even commercials, or the things you read in books.

The reason television is associated with lazy brain effects is because most people turn on the television to relax their minds and distract themselves from the worries or pain they were in that day whether it be work or family stress or boredom or poverty or whatever. This is a personal choice and in the old days the same thing was accomplished by drowning yourself in alcohol.

Being an anti social person I have gathered immense culture and a deep moral knowledge base by analyzing and enjoying movies (not so much television shows though), there are always programs which offer less such as 'reality tv dramas' and some which offer more such as BBC series but the point is that what you get out of your brain is how you use it, diet and exercise also play a big role but the television has no harmful effects you are not already getting from telephone lines, cellphone signals, microwaves (I mean the actual waves not just the appliance), etc.

However, yes televisions and computer screens will damage your eyes for the sole reason of people having tendencies to focus on the fixed-distance of the television or computer, instead of shifting from near and far as in nature. However, books also do this and that is why people who read a lot of books, watch a lot of tv, and use computers a lot (aka nerds) wear glasses sooner than sports freaks.
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Re: Radiant light emitted by TV and computer screens

Post by Mr. PC »

So then what do you think of the 1969 study showing the EEG data of someone falling into an Alpha state while watching T.V. and returning to Beta while not?
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Re: Radiant light emitted by TV and computer screens

Post by panacea »

that they personally chose/are in the habit of/ relaxing their minds while watching television just as some people are with that and other things (for example I zone out in warm showers, and can guarantee you that my EEG data would show a brainwave shift when I got in a warm shower), reading books, driving daily routes, exercising routines, etc

all of these things generally have some type of white noise in common which helps, but other than that there is no evidence of something extraordinary at work here (even reading generally there is some type of heating vent, air conditioner, fan, people talking in another room muffled, etc type noise they can use as white noise to filter out spontaneous noises and maintain an even keel imagination flow of the images they are seeing from reading the book (like a movie)

of course, we can also use the time in the shower/infront of the television/while driving to think of critical problems that arose at work, and maintain beta brainwaves, wide and alert, it's all just dependent on what we feel like
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Re: Radiant light emitted by TV and computer screens

Post by sunmaiden »

I haven't read all these studies but I agree on a few points and disagree on others:
Learning from electronic media is one of the best ways to learn about life/history/culture all over the world, without traveling. It opens up more channels of learning than it closes. I grew up w/out TV, and my kids have too, but we watch a lot of movies/youtube clips together. We home school and learning is much more real when you can watch it and hear it, instead of reading the words and imagining (think bbc's blue planet, a clip of the view from a fighter plane, battle scenes from recent wars). Of course we read too, but some things are learned faster when you watch them.

Kids have intelligence, when it comes to programs that are drivel, mine just won't want to watch them. That said, there's been purported subliminal messages in recorded music and I believe its there in video/tv media as well, plus all sorts of insinuations/ racial hatred/ violence/ negative messages. As parents, I think its wise to discriminate for our children at times, if they can't do it themselves.
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Re: Radiant light emitted by TV and computer screens

Post by Mr. PC »

Ok, you've all made good points about this, and as I've still not found any valid research demonstrating this, I'm thinking it must not be true.

Maybe the reason I feel this way while sitting in front of a computer is 1-placebo, 2-posture, 3-lack of physical movement, or maybe something else I'm not thinking about. Maybe it's the air quality in my bedroom.

Anyway, I guess I don't have to worry about buying a tablet then. Is there anything I *should* worry about sitting in front of a laptop screen for hours per day? Maybe ever few minutes I should focus my eyes onto something distant?
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