AmbivaBlog: Does Television Cause Autism?

This is the classic children's book, Goodenough Gismo, by Richmond I. Kelsey, published in 1948. Nearly unavailable in libraries and the collector's market, it is posted here with love as an "orphan work" so that it may be seen and appreciated -- and perhaps even republished, as it deserves to be. After you read this book, it won't surprise you to learn that Richmond Irwin Kelsey (1905-1987) was an accomplished artist, or that as Dick Kelsey, he was one of the great Disney art directors, breaking your heart with "Pinocchio," "Dumbo," and "Bambi."

Today, Cornell University researchers are reporting what appears to be a statistically significant relationship between autism rates and television watching by children under the age of 3. The researchers studied autism incidence in California, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington state. They found that as cable television became common in California and Pennsylvania beginning around 1980, childhood autism rose more in the counties that had cable than in the counties that did not. They further found that in all the Western states, the more time toddlers spent in front of the television, the more likely they were to exhibit symptoms of autism disorders.

Easterbrook had speculated about this himself before he knew any researchers were looking into it:

The autism rise began around 1980, about the same time cable television and VCRs became common, allowing children to watch television aimed at them any time. Since the brain is organizing during the first years of life and since human beings evolved responding to three-dimensional stimuli, I wondered if exposing toddlers to lots of colorful two-dimensional stimulation could be harmful to brain development. [ ... ]
Because autism rates are increasing broadly across the country and across income and ethnic groups, it seems logical that the trigger is something to which children are broadly exposed. Vaccines were a leading suspect, but numerous studies have failed to show any definitive link between autism and vaccines, while the autism rise has continued since worrisome compounds in vaccines were banned. What if the malefactor is not a chemical? Studies suggest that American children now watch about four hours of television daily.

Not only did autism rise faster in counties where cable-TV access spread far and fast; in the eeriest detail, autism onset positively spiked in times and places where bad weather kept kids indoors, glued to the tube:

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.

Easterbrook remarks that "[t]he aggressive marketing of Teletubbies, Baby Einstein videos, and similar products intended to encourage television watching by toddlers may turn out to have been a nightmarish mistake," but a mistake by society as a whole, not by particular parents: "the parents of afflicted children should not reproach themselves, as there was no warning of this risk." But naturally they are going to reproach themselves quite savagely (and/or sue . . . whom?) for the hours they used television as a pacifier, a nanny, or a substitute for time-consuming and patience-demanding interaction; just as, if you are a parent who intuitively limited your kids' TV viewing or put it off limits altogether, you must feel really, really good about your unpopular decision right about now, even before the link is conclusively proven.

Because it isn't disproven, either, and this study is awfully suggestive and frightening, the American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends no TV at all for kids under 2. Cornell researcher Waldman thinks that should be 3 -- short of autism, it may be causing ADHD, too. Get your kids outdoors and into nature, as this guy has been trying to tell you, since the bad-weather link could implicate physical inactivity, sensory deprivation, or indoor air pollution instead of or as well as TV. And look once again to that little laboratory society that is proving to be the self-selected control group for our hyperactivity, our disconnection, and our rage:

Researchers might also turn new attention to study of the Amish. Autism is rare in Amish society, and the standing assumption has been that this is because most Amish refuse to vaccinate children. The Amish also do not watch television.

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UPDATE: Somehow this reminds me of an unwritten (as far as I know!) Stephen King story that was told to me by King himself. I still have the audiotape of the interview I did with him for my 1960s oral history in the '80s. I ought to transcribe and reproduce it in his own inimitable words, "MUAHAHAHAHA!" tone and all.

The gist of it was, at some time in the future people were aging prematurely in their late teens and dying off in their 20s. Teen-aged scientists were working frantically against the clock to try to discover the cause. And when they finally did, do you know what it was?

NUTRA-SWEET.

And that was before cellphones. Before laptops. Before blogs.