User blog comment:Webly/A proposal........... for another wiki./@comment-4673509-20111109031144/@comment-1874924-20111110024257

The study linking Spongebob to learning problems was most definitely not a joke, but its methodology was questionable. All the kids in the study were 4 years old, and they were tested immediately after watching a Spongebob segment, so only short-term effects could be observed and these effects could not be extrapolated to other age groups.

In any case, the study's conclusions weren't specific to SB (that's just the show the researchers happened to use) or even to cartoons in general. The real question the study's findings raised is whether any TV show featuring fast-paced action is appropriate for kids that young.