SpongeBob Is Giving Your Kids ADHD
September 14, 2011 
14 Comments
SpongeBob and ADHD?
Did you hear this yet?
A recent study published in the journal Pediatrics, suggests that kids around 4 years of age demonstrated decreased attention levels after watching only nine minutes of the favored Nickelodeon show SpongeBob Squarepants.
Two groups were tested, one watched SpongeBob Squarepants and the other watched what the journal is reporting as a “slower paced” show called Caillou…
I’m familiar with both shows. I’m just not certain what the media outlets and / or the study is referring to as a “slower-paced” show versus the alternative of what? A more hyperactive show – featuring an energetic, flighty SpongeBob who is all over the place? (NOTE: Sarcasm intended here).
But seriously…this has generated quite a bit of news attention and talks children and attention issues.
Noted in the research, these children were not reported to have any identified attention problems like ADD / ADHD. It was also a small sample size (red flag), and the show is intended for 6-11 year olds.
These are the points being argued, debated, and presented by the mainstream media, research scientists, and of course the creators and distributors of the show. Oh, and let’s not forget that the American Academy of Pediatrics says “No television for children under two years of age,” and other groups are saying that we should focus on quality of television and NOT quantity.
Well DUH!!!
Oh the issues I want to tear apart here and rant on…
#1. My readers know how I feel about research. It has it’s place, but typically there are flaws and limitations that while they might get mentioned (in small print) don’t lead the newscasts or the water-cooler talk on Twitter and Facebook. For instance, this story probably already has legs because it involves SpongeBob, television, our children, and attention questions.
The reality is, and mentioned, that this study involves a very small sample. And worse off, it’s reportedly a sample of all middle to upper class white kids. Where’s the diversity? There was also no-pretest measuring intelligence or attention span.
The researchers claim, as mentioned above, there were no identified attention problems in these children. BUT, we all know how misunderstood ADD / ADHD is.
#2 The issue of Quality vs. Quantity. I like that this is emphasized, but seriously, are we to be surprised that children are watching more and more television at a time when life is busier and busier on parents…just to get by and survive? Think about it… In a lot of families, two parents are out of the house working just to go by. Kids (older brothers and sisters) have more and more homework and even more extracurricular activities.
This now doesn’t involve or consider the current state of our society given how stressed out parents might be that they are possibly about to lose their jobs or might already out of work.
Ok…let’s not hit that panic button here quite yet. And I might be guilty of inciting some panic by stirring the pot.
But the issue of quantity verus quality is HUGE. Are we as parents / adults paying attention ourselves to what our kids are watching? And what about the commercials that are targeting a certain demographic between SpongeBob aged-kids and Calliou aged kids?
Me Personally?
I’ve said my peace… I think research nowadays makes headlines because the news likes a juicy story. We are still struggling as a community to understand what causes ADHD, what contributes to ADHD, and to what makes an individual’s symptoms worse.
So does SpongeBob cause ADD / ADHD? Doubtful. And that’s NOT what the research is suggesting. (Me either). What is pointing out however, is that attention spans are being affected by current trends in society. And because we do a poor job diagnosing and identifying ADD / ADHD from other conditions…we have to be more alert of what is going on.
And more than ever, we need to be stronger advocates for our children. Information like this falling into the wrong hands can cause even more frustration, singling out, and fingers being pointed at our children (or even us as parents).
Now It’s Your Turn…
What do you think? Let us know your reaction in the comments.
Thanks for your thoughtful article.
For the record, I have a 6 year old son who has been diagnosed with ADHD. He is extremely hyperactive and impulsive, but doesn’t seem to struggle so much with focus problems. He is often difficult to live in the same house with, although he is a bright (VERY bright), sweet, loving child. At school, he seems to be finally turning a corner in first grade because he’s having almost no behavior problems that the teacher finds worth reporting to me. (This is amazing. He has always had behavior problems in school.) He is in the gifted program, having tested straight 99th percentiles in both the verbal and mathematical portions of the ITBS last spring. He fears little and believes that the world is his oyster. And this boy loves everyone he meets; he does not discriminate based on age, physical features or gender. He amazes me and he makes me nuts.
He has never seen a single episode of SpongeBob. He has seen less than a handful of Calliou episodes. I despise them both.
Yes, we watch some TV, though not nearly as much as he’d like. (I’m in charge here.) I don’t choose programs based on “pace”; I choose them based on the values on which they are based and whether there might be any educational opportunities… with an occasional episode of the original Batman series thrown in. (Hubby is also in charge, you know.)
Surely it’s not TV. BUT WHETHER OR NOT IT IS, parents must make good choices about any media that our children are exposed to.
Really….spongebob!!!! The cause of adhd for my daughter ,whom we adopted at birth, is the fact that the birthmother did drugs and alcohol while Sarah was developing in her uterus! Sarah tested positive for cocaine at birth. Her apgar at 1 min was 3 and at nine minutes 9. Yes Sarah was diagnosed with adhd but i am starting to believe that just about every child has it! We have taken Sarah OFF ALL ADHD MEDICATIONS. We had 15 neurofeedback sessions, give her a supplement called Attention and pray!
Well my son did not look at television much and he did not look at sponge bob, I noticed he was hyper and not focusing at 19 months. Whem will people believe that this is real and not something that is made up.
I have spent the last ten minutes trying to come up with a comment that was meaningful and intelligent. I can’t do it. I find this study to be a joke.
It would be nice to pin all the causes and issues associated with ADHD on a cartoon character. It’s just not that easy.
And one other thing: letting your kids watch cartoons does not make you a bad mom or dad. So just let go of that misguided guilt!
Hmm. I didn’t read this as about Sponge Bob Square pants per se but about the “hyperactivity” of the show. In other words, how fast the images are projected at viewers. This is not the first time, researchers (in far better designed studies than this one) have looked at image speed and deduced that for some shows and some video games, the speed of images and flashing lights are so rapid as to cause attention and processing “challenges.” Even what’s known as photo-sensitive epilepsy in some children.
So I wouldn’t be so quick to throw out the over-riding hypothesis of this study.
While Rory pointed out some very major issues with this study, I would like to point out some additional aspects of the study that the media completely ignored (and have a tendency to do, for likely a variety of reasons).
The study actually had 3 groups: fast-paced television, educational television, or drawing (no television). The latter is the control group. Children were randomly assigned based on pulling a number out of a bag. While there are more professional ways to handle randomization, including statistical methods, the method used in the study works for the quality of the study. As was pointed out, the sample size was quite low.
Keep in mind that the study never actually mentions “SpongeBob” or “Caillou” by name. This is what is assumed by the media outlets, and while the description of the television programs used are consistent with these two programs, it is still speculation.
Children watched 9 minutes of an 11-minute television program on a notebook. I’m sure you can see a few things wrong with all that.
A bunch of tests were administered, grouped into two categories: executive functioning (attention, memory, and problem solving tasks) or delayed gratification.
Now here is where it gets interesting…the researchers stated “…the fast-paced television group did significantly worse on the EF composite than the drawing group…” EF refers to the tests of executive functioning. They go on to explain “The difference between the fast-paced and the educational television groups approached significance…”
Approached significance? What does that mean? It means it wasn’t significant. It means it was close, but no cigar. In medical and other scientific research, we are usually concerned with whether something is or isn’t significant. And even if it is significant, the results may not generalize outside of the lab to real world situations. Do you think the FDA would approve a drug for cancer that was demonstrated to be almost effective compared to a placebo, but not quite? Yea, exactly.
Wait, it gets better…the researchers go on later in their report to claim “Children in the fast-paced television group scored significantly worse than the others despite being equal in attention at the outset, as indicated by parent report.” Um, no, you said earlier it approached significance, not that it was significant. They are contradicting themselves.
They further claim, “This result is consistent with others showing long-term negative associations between entertainment television and attention.” Again, no. Those studies looked at long-term associations. The researchers in this study looked at immediate results. They provided no results for what happens after 5 minutes, 30 minutes, or an hour later after watching these programs. If the children perform within normal limits after 15 minutes, then does the immediate effect actually matter in real world scenarios?
There are some other issues, already reported within this blog and elsewhere I won’t get into. The points above, though, are those generally ignored by the media.
In the end, the only thing we can deduce from this study is something my cousin, a neuropsychologist, told me “Don’t let a 4-year-old cram for an exam right after watching SpongeBob!”
I am an adult recently diagnosed with ADHD, and I am appalled – but not surprised – at the way the lazy and inaccurate way the American commercial media covered that story, “Watching Spongebob Causes ADD/ADHD!”
I LOVE watching Spongebob Squarepants! It’s a great show, and it’s brilliantly written. Knowing that I watch “Sponge” and that I struggle with my ADHD, my cousin – who is a “big sister” to me and extremely intelligent – called me yesterday and was dead serious in telling me, “Hey, did you hear? Watching Spongebob causes ADHD! Maybe that’s what’s causing your ADHD? Maybe you shouldn’t watch it anymore?” When I said it sounded like rubbish to me, she insisted, “No, I don’t think it is because it was on all the big national newscasts, so that means it must be pretty important, otherwise they wouldn’t report it.” At that point, I knew she had been duped like so many other smart people, so I gave it one more object, but she insisted, “I think maybe you ought to check this Spongebob thing out because it is all over the news and they all said this research found that Spongebob causes ADHD.You might feel better if you stopped watching it. The news said that kids who watched Spongebob flunked tests after watching it for only after a few minutes, but kids who watched a slower-paced show passed. It sounds like watching stuff like Spongebob might not be good for you because you have ADHD.” At that point I thanked her telling me, and I’d give it some thought (NOT!), and then I changed the subject. I know my cousin was very well intentioned. She’s a lovely person, and there’s not a mean bone in her body. What got me was that she genuinely believed this story because it was “all over the news,” and was truly trying to help me deal with something she knows is hard for me (the ADHD). There was no telling her anything different, because she heard this report on the news!! She would not listen to my objections to the story, and I knew what I was talking about.
There’s one thing that I didn’t mention this at the top of my post, but I am a science reporter for Voice of America. Granted, until a few months ago, I was a sportscaster, but STILL! I’ve learned much in that short amount of time since I was reassigned to this science gig. I see the Eurekalert website gaggle of studies every day. I told my cousin that the commercial media often distorts reports because they have to get ratings and please paying sponsors, so I would check out the actual study and tell her the real science – if there is any. I warned her that the study probably does not make the conclusion she saw on the national news. I was a bit gratified when I check out the study this morning. The national news shows were WRONG!
I agree with the review of the study on this website – there are a lot of issues with this research -AND – it says NOTHING about Spongebob causing ADHD! I;m going to send a copy of the pediatrics outline and the Eurekalert release to my cousin with a copy of a hyped news story so she can see what a load of old bollocks she was “fed” by the TV networks. I also will recommend that she START watching Spongebob, and STOP watching CNN, or whatever the heck it was she polluted her mind with. Then she can understand that many news organizations hate to ruin a good story with facts. And NO, I didn’t cover this story at VOA, I have been writing about some really cool fish fossils this week.
As a grown-up struggling with ADHD, a science journalist, and a Spongebob fan, I want to say I am disgusted at the “slow news day” and inaccurate national reporting on this story. There is no excuse for this type of sensationalizing at a serious news reporting outfit.
The study may have actual merit, if nothing else for the researchers, but since I’m not a scientist, I don’t know for certain. From reading the study outline on Pediatrics and the Eurekalert UVA press release, I agree with the writer of the above opinion piece, the study seems pretty small and short-ranging. I don’t have kids, but I should think that it is up to the parents to decide what their 4-year-old does and doesn’t do – like watch a TV show intended for much older viewers.
As for me, when I get home from work today, I fully intend to watch Spongebob — but only I take a double dose of my ADHD medicine! (kidding!)
Thanks for giving me space to express how I feel. Back to fish fossils and heliophysics!
I’m 59 years old and was in special learning classes at school age because for most classes I was just a day dreamer as thay called it then. It wasn’t until 5th and 6th grades that I started to perform but I was keep in special education (as they changed the name) all through my schooling. When I was able to watch TV, I was only allowed to watch two half hour shows a day, which were mostly cartoons (Disney back then and only certain 3 Stooges episodes). After I watched 3 Stooges I was told that I had began to act in violent ways for a few days and I remember being reprimanded many times. I do believe that many of the kids shows on today do have an effect on the children and parents DO need to CHECK on the shows they watch and limit the viewing time. These days I still do not watch much television because most of the shows have violence and I am not comfortable watching since I can look outside or just walk or drive a short distance and find all you would want on our country’s streets and sidewalks these days. Television should bring back the older shows like Lawrence Welk, Walton’s, Little House on the Prairie anso on. Those were the shows that I could watch extra if I could control myself. But looking back, I think those shows were mighty good and would be good for most families even these days. They taught value and morals. Which we can sure use more of in this country today.
i think that this is probably true, but its such a small problem, and there are so many other things that cause ADHD and ADD.
such as-
cocaine abuse during pregnancy
genetics
family issues
tramatic experiences
there are so many things that people should worry about fixing first.they should worry about all the pregnant mothers who are addicted to crack and cocaine and stop worrying about wether or not spongebob is effecting a small population of 4 yr olds ability of concentrating. JEEZ!
Hi Rory, I’m trying to track you down and ran into this, great stuff. Please e-mail me, I look forward to yor contact. Nina Tischer, used to work with you.
Teresa, I too am an adult, diagnosed with ADHD in 2011.
Actually I think that the tangentiality and wit of Spongebob flows in a way that is very native to the thinking style that is native to us ADDers.
You have to pay close attention to that show – over multiple episodes to grasp it all. It is not dissimilar to the best of the old Looney Tunes.
It really takes a very one- dimensional assessment of the show not to see that.
We all live in situations where at times rapid fire changes of subject and frame are expected in day to day functioning and other times when a slower, more thorough style of attention is required.
You are quite right that the journalism around this research was pretty sloppy ( maybe the journalists had an attention problem.
I have not actually seen the research (can you point me to it?)but I do get to read a lot of research in my profession. Faulty reasoning and overly ambitious conclusions are very common in medical research. We all need to be more cautious than we usually are in terms of what we accept as “fact”.
I should say “diagnosed in 2008″- sloppy proof reading is not always a sign of ADHD- but it is not uncommon.
It is really sad when “scientists” conduct such poorly designed studies claiming to find the causes of ADHD. It is even more pitiful when the news media pick up the “story” and lay people buy into it.
As Caroline has pointed out not all people with ADHD have identical symptoms–and many, like her son, are VERY bright.
Most people with ADHD can have help for their symptoms and then lead happy and successful lives. I know, because I have!
Ive had ADHD before I was watching spongebob. So I disagree totally. But the show shouldn’t be watched by younger kids like 0-8 but older kids understand more.