Television & Seizures in Children

Seizures are uncontrollable convulsions in the body caused by abnormal brain activity. Flashing lights and patterns from certain television shows have been blamed for "causing" seizures in children. Certain television programs merely trigger seizures in children who are susceptible to them.

Seizures

• Seizures are convulsions that happen as a result of abnormal electrical activity in the brain. In most seizures, the body will shake uncontrollably for 30 seconds to two minutes. People with recurring seizures have a brain disorder called epilepsy.

Significance

• According to the Epilepsy Foundation's Task Force on Photosensitivity, children and teens between the ages of 7 and 19 are particularly susceptible to seizures induced by television. One in 17,500 children fall victim to this a year in the United States.

Misconceptions

• Flashing lights and patterns on television don't cause epilepsy, according to Guisepe Erba, a doctor at the University of Rochester Medical Center. They merely reveal the vulnerabilities of children who carry a photosensitive trait.

Insight

• It has been difficult to eliminate the risk of seizures induced by television, since there is such a great variety in what triggers them from one child to the next.

Potential

• According to a study appearing in Epilepsia: The Journal of the International League Against Epilepsy, knowledge of the effects of properties like brightness, pattern, color, and flicker frequency can be useful in planning individual treatment.