Television can affect learning and school performance if it cuts into the time kids need for activities crucial to healthy mental and physical development: the Canadian Pediatric Society recommends that school-age children should watch no more than two hours of television per day, with less than one hour being ideal, and that children should not have access to television in their bedrooms

Since the first television screens lit up our living rooms scientists have been studying its affect on young children. Now scientists have compared mother-child communication while watching TV to reading books or playing with toys to reveal the impact on children's development. The results show that watching TV can lead to less interaction between parents and children, with a detrimental impact on literacy and language skills.