Does television/the modern world cause autism?

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I'm not sure how you think TV/computers/etc can cause something that people are showing symptoms of before the large exposure to them that you're mentioning.

When I was a little kid in the late 80's and ezrly 90's we didn't have computers with internet, or cell phones, or cable television. So I played my Atari 2600 and NES, and read big medical textbooks. I also went outside to play with the other kids at the apartment complex, but I also played by myself. I had something called an imagination. So no, TV and computers do not cause autism.

No, it doesn't.

I don't see why you mentioned an epidemic. You also seem rather fixated on cable TV, which large parts of the world still do not have.

I'm not sure I'd go with this idea that people in the past were more articulate and that we are slowly and inexorably in terminal literary decline. The bulk of the evidence from the past is from writers, so it stands to reason that what we have won't be representative of the general population.

In a word: No. Autism and AS are hereditary neurological disorders, they vary in severity but and I've not heard of strong AS or weak AS genes. All I can say is that society has matured in a way that is at least a little more tolerant of different people(not to the point that we're treated equally by all but y'know, progress) I mean...I think we would have been burnt at the stake in the middle ages, perhaps there was some sort of catapult involved too? Anyway, things have gotten a lot better and the AS gene may be getting around a lot more and, as much as it pains me to say it, it might be because of the bloody anthropologists.

Ohiophile, I can't say you're wrong since the etiology of ASD's is still undetermined. But my guess is that TV has nothing to do with it. Here are a few thoughts on your query:

First, other than a handful of documentaries, TV is all about fictitious social interactions. For example, where I'm from, many men will tell you their ideas of what it means to be a man came from watching John Wayne. By the same token, TV shows are only popular if they have social resonance--if they speak somehow to the human condition at a particular time and place.

Second, TV is causing all manner of social problems, particularly with respect to what cultural anthropologists call comity ways. We no longer see ourselves as a single society the way we did until fairly recently. But TV is a symptom of our social ills rather than the cause.

Third, if TV is causing problems, it's because it offers no challenge. I haven't had a TV in twenty years. If I were to sit down with somebody who watches TV every waking minute, they wouldn't get anything more out of the next program than I would. TV is almost unique in that no matter how much of it you do, you never get any better at it. Watching TV is effortless, and the results are commensurate. We only improve when we challenge ourselves.

If anything, I would think that autism was more prevalent 150 years ago than it is today. Before the "industrial revolution," there was more demand for people with detailed craft skills liek cobbling, smithy, weaving and hand sewing ... repetitive work that required a higher degree of tactile and visual thinking than the management and service jobs that western economy offers today. Add arranged marraiges to that, and Spectrumeters would've had a much greater chance at reproducing.

My social issues were worse because I used to imitate & quote things from TV shows like Beavis & ButtHead & Ren & Stimpy

I think that perhaps because all communication on the Internet is verbal, more people seem like they have Asperger's, because the playing field is level in the way that "neurotypicals" cannot decipher nonverbal communication clues either simply because they do not exist.

As for TV, I can't be sure, as I haven't really watched TV since I was 12 years old.

I think you all are misunderstanding my post. I am not saying that television is the cause of autism but rather a possible contributing factor because it prevents socialization within the home. I am saying that just like there were people who were out of shape and overweight before there were Twinkies and Nintendo, there were people who were autistic before we had the average American spending hours in front of the Television and on the internet. However, this new way of life may be contributing to an increase in both of these. Just like some people can eat unhealthy food and never get fat and be athletic, some people can not socialize very much (watch lots of TV and spend time playing video games) and still be very socially adept. However, if everyone becomes more sedentary and eats junk food people who are not as naturally athletic and skinny will become overweight and out of shape. Same with autism is my hypothesis. If society in general is engaging is less direct, face to face interaction due to a number of factors (parents are too busy working to engage their children socially, TV/Video games/computer is always on, etc...) some people are going to be dramatically effected.

So I am saying there IS a genetic component, however epigenetics (environment) is tipping far more people across the line from ordinary social difficulty to disorder.

You don't have a hypothesis, you have a theory, the difference between the two being that the first one is an "educated guess," and your guess is, er, not very educated.

As far as it goes, epigenetic influence on the manifestation of autism likely occurs pre-partum. It is unlikely that the factors you list are sufficient to prompt an autistic manifestation - which is derived from how the brain develops at an extremely early age - at the kind of age that children are likely to spend all their time on the internet or playing videogames.

One thing about what you're describing is that we already know what happens to children whose parents don't interact with them - they often develop attachment issues, not autism. There is no evidence that such a thing has any bearing on autism and your theory was originally presented (sans internet, TV, and video games) in the 1950s as the "refrigerator mother" theory:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigerator_mother_theory

It was long ago thoroughly debunked. Upbringing has no known measurable impact on whether a child is autistic or not, although upbringing can impact how well children cope with being autistic.

^^^^ First of all a theory is "a coherent group of tested general propositions, commonly regarded as correct, that can be used as principles of explanation and prediction for a class of phenomena" according to dictionary.com. A hypothesis is a proposition or guess that you want to test to form a theory, so the term hypothesis is correct in this instance. It appears that you are the one who is not very educated.

Secondly, this is not the refrigerator mother theory because I am not saying that mean or abusive parents cause autism. I am saying that people need PRACTICE to develop any SKILL. Socializing and the ability to relate to others is something that takes practice; more for some than for others (in autism MUCH more). There are a number of environmental factors that exist in the modern world that make people socialize less than they used to in person, hence the rise in people with extreme difficulty socializing.

Here is a link:
TV might cause autism

In fact the article DOES mention that early environment can effect brain development. I'm not saying that these environmental factors can make someone who would otherwise be extremely outgoing and social autistic. I'm saying that they are making someone who would be just social enough to get by not quite social enough to get by and considered autistic.