The study, in Monday's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also provides a clue as to why it happens.
''What's new is that even if you can learn while distracted, it changes how you learn to make it less efficient and useful,'' said Russell Poldrack, a psychology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.
That could affect a lot of young people. A study by the Kaiser Family Foundation last year found third-graders through 12th-graders devoted, on average, nearly 61/2 hours per day to TV and videos, music, video games and computers.
Did we really need a study to tell us that kids who watch TV while studying have a more difficult time with retention? I guess sometimes you need a study to verify what appears to be common sense.
It kind of gives you a reason to throw out your tv, or not even fix it if it breaks (which is what we did). I'm 19, and I've been fine without watching all the reality shows and sitcoms. There's just better things to do.
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