Watching tv when growing up and autism

There is some contentious stuff out there about high levels of tv watching increasing the chances of a child becoming autistic. What if however children with autism/autism traits are more likely anyway to watch tv. I don't know if that is true, I'm just throwing it out there for debate.
Possibly more time stuck in front of the box would mean less time engaged in imaginative play.
I was a toddler in the late 50s/early 60s and apparently watched a lot of television. Nowadays a toddler watching lots of tv or videos would not be that unusual, but I'm not sure it was the case back in the late 50s/early 60s .

Parents
  • Watching too much TV makes people stupid, not autistic.

    If watching TV made kids autistic, then, in this age when parents use the TV as a babysitter, there would be so many more autistic kids now than decades ago when TVs were not so commonplace.

    If that theory were true, then, presumably, keeping an autistic kid away from the TV would cure them.

Reply
  • Watching too much TV makes people stupid, not autistic.

    If watching TV made kids autistic, then, in this age when parents use the TV as a babysitter, there would be so many more autistic kids now than decades ago when TVs were not so commonplace.

    If that theory were true, then, presumably, keeping an autistic kid away from the TV would cure them.

Children