France Bans TV Shows For Babies

France's broadcast authority has banned the marketing of TV shows to children under 3, to protect them from the potential of developmental problems. The ruling also mandates that French cable operators airing foreign channels with programs for babies have to broadcast warning messages to parents. The messages will read: "Watching television can slow the development of children under 3, even when it involves channels aimed specifically at them." I guess there won't be any French contestants in this year's Baby Fear Factor.

No pain no gain in mental development.

[ElectricTurtle]

I'm not surprised that TV for babies would slow development. The human mind only really develops when faced with challenges and problems. Children's TV tries to do this but they worry far too much about it being 'too hard' or 'frustrating' so it ends up being horrible mindless drivel.

This is humor why?

[tthomas48]

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no TV under 2 and limited under 3. So, I guess the censorship is interesting, but we decide people can't handle certain levels of violence, sex, or language on TV. Makes more sense to ban the baby shows in my opinion. There's a lot of hard evidence there.

slow the development of children under 3?

[pejyel]

Isn't it well-known that TV slows brain development at every age!?

Why is this on Idle?

[krog]

This is closer to "news for nerds, stuff that matters" than about 80% of what makes it to the main page. Also, it's humor-free (which doesn't preclude it from posting here, I guess). Why here?

Nest Step

[MRB Constant]

The next step is to arrest the people who let their children watch TV.

Re:

[SupremoMan]

I'm pretty sure growing up without your parents (them being behind bars and all) would have a worse effect on the child than little TV.