Content, not Medium

Via Jonah Lehrer, some neuroscientists report on the non-importance of categories like "watching television" or "surfing the internet" for our brains. What matters is what you watch, or what you do:

In the same way that there is no single effect of ‘‘eating food,’’ there is also no single effect of ‘‘watching television’’ or ‘‘playing video games.’’ Different foods contain different chemical components and thus lead to different physiological effects; different kinds of media have different content, task requirements,and attentional demands and thus lead to different behavioral effects.

There are good studies showing that watching Sesame Street helps get young children ready to start school, whereas watching Teletubbies hurts.