'The first ever national study to investigate the effects of background television exposure, or being in the same room as a blaring television without necessarily watching it, has found that young children are affected quite dramatically by this inadvertent media vulnerability. According to researchers from the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW), children on average are now exposed to more than five hours a day of television, which is basically turning their brains into mush.

The research, which was published in the journal Pediatrics, includes data collected via telephone from 1,500 parents with young children, all of who reported on the daily TV-watching habits of their families. These parents were asked to estimate how many hours throughout the day their television sets were on, and roughly how many of these hours their young children were in the same room with the switched-on television.'

Read more: Even Background Television Exposure Will 'Zombify' Your Children, Study Finds