A Japanese study has found that TV changes young brains and for the worse, reports the U.K.’s Daily Mail. 
The study looked at 276 children between five and 18. Brain scans showed that the ones who spent the most time before the tube had more gray matter around the frontopolar cortex. This gray matter needs to be pruned during childhood and the authors of the study say this was not happening.
This part of the brain is associated with intellectual abilities.
“TV view is directly or indirectly associated with the neurocognitive development of children . . . at least some of the observed associations are not beneficial and guardians of children should consider those effects when children view TV for long periods of time,” the authors said.
The study was almost evenly divided between boys and girls. The subjects watched between zero and four hours a day.
The effect TV had on the structural development of the brain had never been investigated according to the authors.