"Before the age of 3, children's brains go through rapid development and are being physically shaped in response to whatever they are exposed to. Exposing children to fast-moving images for sustained periods at this time can inhibit their ability to sustain attention, and hinder their development of social skills."
It has been shown that the rays from TV and computers alter young children's developing brains. TV and computer screens emit blue light, the only rays the eye cannot block out. This can alter one's sense of time as well as day and night, it keeps adults up at night. Moreover, TV produces extremely fast images which are not found in nature. Children become accustomed to being passive observers of a hyper-speed world flying by.
Doctors recommend that kids should not be exposed to any TV and internet before the age of 3, and between 3 and 7 very little if at all, "one hour a day at most".
So it's not just that TV leads to kids being sedentary. TV has detrimental effects apart from the couch-potato problem. As this link shows, exercising apart from TV "doesn't make up for kids screen time".
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/10/27/exercise-doesnt-make-up-for-kids-screen-time.aspx
The nature of early childhood learning offers other reasons not to expose children to TV and Internet.
In Rousseau's book Emile: or, On Education, he explores the question of what constitutes a good education for kids. Railing against the over-civilized "educations" of his contemporary French enlightenment society much the way many people railed against Tiger Mom, one of his conclusions is that young kids should not learn to write and read and construct arguments until they have learned to interact with the world i.e. do things first. This theory is echoed by modern childhood developmental psychology, which finds that by nature kids up to middle school are predominantly "tactile-kinesthetic learners", they learn by touching and doing: bumping into stuff, clapping to songs, cutting with scissors, kicking balls, acting out, playing tag, etc. Learn to cut a piece of wood. Learn to climb up a ladder, smell a forest, kick a ball, bake a cake, tie your shoes, wash your hands, draw, make a poster, ride a bike. Gardens and farms, people, walking, fresh air, cooking and shopping, music, sports, museums, painting...
In short, kids are naturally designed to learn by doing. Thus is there a more un-kinesthetic and therefore un-kidlike experience than to sit idly in front of a TV--no matter how "educational" the program? This is Rousseau's problem in Emile: that kids were being "educated" like adults rather than as what they are, kids. Watching TV is purely audial and visual, completely devoid of the very touch and movement that is kids' primary learning mode (unless they're dancing along with a dance instructor...).
There is nothing about computers that can't be learned when one is 10, 20, or older.
Some parents (or teachers) may believe that young kids need to get experience with computers to keep up with a "tech-savvy" generation. It's just the opposite. What kids need is freedom from TV and computers to learn to interact with the world, move and do things, viz., to be kids. Kids need a chance not to be sitting in front of a glowing screen.
http://blogs.mercola.com/sites/vitalvotes/archive/2007/04/24/Why-You-Want-to-Keep-Your-Baby-Away-From-the-TV.aspx
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