Does watching TV cause Autism ?

goodfather310 said:

YES!! Its not only the television, its ipads, compuers, video games etc... Think about it! Now days children own ipads at 2 Years old!.. They have all kinds of electronic gadgets out there. This generation is ridiculous! .. We grew up playing tag, running around, throwing rocks, making paper airplanes!.. Children develop autism in their first couple years of life. Its caused by excessive tv, ipads..basically too much radiation at a young age. Look up autistic children on youtube. 95% of them are stuck in front of some kind os electronic. Call me crazy. I figured it out first hand. I reversed my sons diagnoses. Why do you think the amish community have no cases of autism? They dont believe in electronics!!.. Find me one autistic child that is not addicted to electronics and come talk to me. 

thanks

I do not believe electronic gadgets cause autism, although the radiation may well have other negative effects on the body.

There were no iPads etc. when I was a child and I have AS, my children have never been stuck in front of the TV for hours or had lots of electronic gadgets and they both still have ASC.

I was interested in the Amish claim to no autism, but when I looked into it, it was disproven because it was investigated as it was thought to be vaccine related and they found the Amish do vaccinate their children and also do have some cases of autism.

One of my children had signs from birth, before she went anywhere near a TV.

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going to watch some TV  for some hypnotic electron delta waves @ speak to you all later folks..

autismtwo said:

lets all agree that having autism does cause fixations, be it in routines, ocd or maybe watching too much tv and even rigid points of view. I am guilt of all four.

That is often true, though I would stress that we on the spectrum are all different and don't all have these issues.

However, and more to the point, it is a logical fallacy to then say that too much TV causes Autism.

Hi everyone,

It's interesting to see this thread revived. Could I remind you all to keep it reasonably polite, though?

Many thanks,

Alex R - mod

lets all agree that having autism does cause fixations, be it in routines, ocd or maybe watching too much tv and even rigid points of view. I am guilt of all four.

Goodfather - how do you know you're "curing" your son's Autism?

I also wonder if you have any concrete evidence that your son's Autism is called by the TV, rather than some crazy theory for which there's no evidence.

Hi - "what came 1st?  The chicken or the egg?".  I think my son was born autistic.  He had his 1st meltdown at 3-4 days old.  His 2nd at 3 wks.

Sometimes we give too much credence to a theory because it appears to fit, to give an explanation we are searching for.

Goodfather, I'm going to be blunt, and some would say rude, here, but quite frankly, I think it's needed in this instance.

Your hairbrained scheme, as longman so aptly put it, is going to do your son harm, not make him better. You should be ashamed of yourself. As longman says, not allowing him full access to todays technology will mark him out as different, further impare his ability to communicate with his peers, and will mostly likely lead to him being bullied and having low self esteem. He will most likely grow up to be depressed, and have other mental health issues. It's even possible that you will out live him because he becomes so depressed that he takes his own life.

Quite frankly, sir, if that's what you think is 'best' for your son, then you're an idiot!

Wake up and smell the coffee!

TV, and other electronic gadgets do not CAUSE autism. Autism is a genetic condition. He was born with it. The symptoms can improve with time, but it does not go away. He will be autistic for life.

For the sake of your son, throw out your rediculous pet theories, get a grip, and learn some actual facts about autism, it's causes, and what you can do to help your son. Because quite frankly, you're not doing him any good right now, and any detremental effects your ridiculous scheme has on his long term mental health will be your fault and no one elses!

But, you'll probably blame that on Microwaves, or Power Lines, or Contrails, or some other complete crap you read in the Daily Mail.

Seriously, excercise some critical thinking!

I actually did think about that. Once I feel like he's at that age where he can handle a little bit of TV I will make that decision. Right now is not that time. I hope one day people figure it out and realize technology is backfiring. My son will be just fine. But please come talk to me when you find an autistic child that doesn't live off electronics. Good luck 

Ah well, if he's still only 2.5 years old you've yet to discover what happens when he has more contact with his peer group, and that shows up difference.

So you're going to add to that difference by not allowing your son any of the resources that enable social discussion in chiildhood and teens - which unfortunately I agree is prevalently hinged on media and gadgets nowadays - and your son will be just that much more different.

I know about this personally because it was what my parents did. I've never been quite sure why this happened but from 1963 until about mid 70s we didn't have TV in the house. My use of a transistor radio was also censored for bad influences. So I went out a lot wandering the streets, played in the garden or read. I didn't cultivate friends much so didn't see much TV in other houses. It certainly meant it wasn't advantageous for other kids to come round to my house.

It meant I couldn't join in any of the discussion at school about what was on TV or any of the other things happening. Didn't stop the aspergers (even though it wasn't known about in those days). Didn't help the bullying I suffered, or the isolation, or the lowe self esteem and lack of self confidence.

And we're talking here being a teenager in the 60s. You're son is going to be a teenager in the 2010s/2020s - very different age where TV, ipods, electronic games are crucial to young people's discussions. And your son is going to be deprived even of that opportunity to mix!

You think your hairbrained scheme is going to do any good. Well its your son who will have to pay for your blinkered egotistical homespun philosophy.

Please do some research on autism. Don't just impose your theory its curable by hiding the telly!

Television was invented in 1920. Autism was discovered in 1940. It wasn't very common then because only the wealthy could afford television sets. Over the years technology has developed and their are plenty more cases of autism. My son watched way too much tv. I wanna say starting off at 8 -9 months or so? My fiancée was so worried about him getting sick or getting germs from being outside, he was always indoors. The tv was always on and he would watch it. He was always smiling and laughing so we let him watch it. It made him happy. Time went by and I realized something wasn't right. He was just in his own world? Never made eye contact? Always zoned out. Never responded to his name? I began to do research and I realized he had all the autism characteristics. I was the one that brought it to his doctors attention. He was later diagnosed by a specialist. He didn't crawl til about 13 months. I drive myself crazy trying to figure out washy caused it?!! One night something inside me said the tv? Cause that's all he would do. I began looking up a autistic children on YouTube. All or most of them are hypnotized by a tv, computer etc. The next morning I went nuts!! ... I took every television set out the house.. and everything he would get fixated on. His flashing electronic toys. i even took down the ceiling fan cuz he would stare at it forever!.. If we went somewhere where there was a television I would take him away. I didn't even like him around lights! Cuz he would stare at them!.. I would always take him outdoors. To the park, zoo, beach... We were always outside!! Nature! ... My son is 2.5 years old now and is doing just fine. The key to curing my sons autism is that I caught it at such a youNGO age. Around 18 months. Usually children aren't diagnosed til about 3. By then it can be very tough because if you take away or turn off the tv, they reAlize it and they start throwing tantrums. We all know autistic children can throw the worst tantrums. Kicking, screaming, hurting themselves etc... So the parents always give in! .. Especially this generation... All these teen parents are so busy on their iPhones on Facebook and all these other apps. They paying any attention to their children. They just throw them in front of some kind if electronic babysitter!!.. Also the amount of obese people or elder people that have children and don't have the energy to play with their kids.. They give them tv. Some kind of babysitter. Just think about it. Go watch that movie reign man. He has a portable tv the whole movie... and he has to watch all his shows.

longman and stranger - I agree with both of you.

I am in my fifties. We didn't have a television when I was young and I must have been nearly ten when we got our first black and white set. My sibling and I were rationed by my father to, at most, one or two short programmes a day. We often watched none at all. My father and sibling, appear to have had AS, as well as myself. 

I have always been wary of technology and only began using a computor a couple of years ago. Same with mobile phones. Neither sibling nor father used one of those. Also none of us possessed iphones etc etc. With my paternal grandfather and three more of my distant relatives having an AS profile, it all looks '!suspiciously!' genetic. 

I do think that in the past ASD would be explained away by other diagnosis - for example one female relative of mine was initially described by other family members as 'feeble minded'.  Diagnosis can be much more accurate now. But it seems obvious to me, just from family experience that AS was around long before tv, computors, mobile phones etc.

I also wonder if people are looking for 'easy reasons' for ASD, like exposure to tv, so they can then advocate an easy answer - 'Hey, Lets turn the TV off and everything will be alright.'  

For a lot of us the noise, images, colours and quick-changes that a TV throws out can make our condition worse for a while. so the answer to that is to turn the telly off. But turning the telly off is not going to stop people having AS.
 
 

What also worries me is that godfather310 "reversed" his son's diagnosis. It would be interesting to know how exactly and what corroborates this.

There is still a lack of understanding of autism amongst a lot of people in contact with it, which leads to rather insensitive treatment of those affected, based on unsupported hunches and theories, and unattested therapies.

The Amish, while they have adjusted to the world around them, may not be that different from biblical times where people with disabilities were prohibited access to the temple (or church), and where people thought dumb, insane, or retarded were chained up like dogs. That was happening in Victorian England.

My family did not own a TV until I was 10 years old, neither did I have any other gadgets as a child. We did not get a computer until I was 13 years old!.

I spent most of my childhood days playing outside in the sunshine, and good memories they are too.

Not all people with autism are into electronics in any case. Many of us prefer reading or other non gadget related activities. Even now I hardly ever use my mobile phone, which I only purchased when I was 18 years old.

And autism cannot be cured.

How do you explain Autism in people who for whatever reason, don't watch that much TV? I remember as a child, rarely watching TV. Our school holidays mostly consisted of taking a packed lunch and frisbee down the park for a few hours.

How do you explain why you can have 2 siblings who were brought up the same way, yet only one has Autism?

Autism existed way before TVs were invented; but those people with Autism (or would have that diagnosis if they were diagnosed today) would have either been ignored, or diagnosed with other disorders.

I don't know what statistics are available as regards autism in Amish communities but they believe in self help for mental illness. Peiople with mental illness have to talk to their bishops. They get preached at. So I do wonder, if there was autism in Amish communities, whether we'd get to know.

This connection with computers and media also relates to the myth that autism has only affected children within the last twenty years, and that adults with autism are somehow bucking the theory deliberately. After all its something we grow out of....isn't it? 

Before the computer media - according to the theory being advocated, there wasn't any autism?

I still have my first pocket calculator from around 1970 - the size of a New Testament bible. I had a ZX Spectrum a decade later around the early 1980s. I was involved in a programme to produce software packages for the BBC micro (that government scheme where free computers were distributed, but schools had to raise money for the viewing monitors). That was another decade on. These computers you are talking about have only been significant influences within the last twenty years.

Television was black and white and rather limited up to late sixties. I had a crystal set to listen to radio with up early sixties, then a rather feeble transistor radio. The things you are on about - walkmans, ipods, ipads are all products of the last twenty years.

So what caused autism before these technologies came into the picture? And how do you explain how it affects children. When do children first connect to ipads, ipods and computers? Aged 3 months, aged 15 months, aged three years? aged 5 years? Does autism only appear after long enough exposure? So mothers with children being diagnosed before 2 - how did technology cause that?

YES!! Its not only the television, its ipads, compuers, video games etc... Think about it! Now days children own ipads at 2 Years old!.. They have all kinds of electronic gadgets out there. This generation is ridiculous! .. We grew up playing tag, running around, throwing rocks, making paper airplanes!.. Children develop autism in their first couple years of life. Its caused by excessive tv, ipads..basically too much radiation at a young age. Look up autistic children on youtube. 95% of them are stuck in front of some kind os electronic. Call me crazy. I figured it out first hand. I reversed my sons diagnoses. Why do you think the amish community have no cases of autism? They dont believe in electronics!!.. Find me one autistic child that is not addicted to electronics and come talk to me. 

thanks

To summarise what most are saying on this thread, is that autism is in your genes, it was part of you the instant your DNA pulled itself together and started multiplying until you became a living breathing organism.

However, exposure to TV probably -has- increase the rate of people being DIAGNOSED with autism.

It may be because people are watching the shows and becoming more aware of what those with ASD go through.

It may be because the content on TV gives those with ASD something to cling to and obsess over (i.e. tv shows that fuel their interests and make their devotion to these topics more significant .)

It may also be because the varying sounds, images, colours and lights you get on TV cause extreme distress to young children with ASD, allowing them to be diagnosed earlier.

Or it may just be that society's obsession with appearence and celebrity culture has made it more obvious when those with undiagnosed autism stand out, and isolate them more because of it.

Either way, I think we can safely say autism is not -caused- by TV, but TV can increase the symptoms depending on the individual.