I don't know about research on it that is current, but in this house it is used under moderation. I have seen families where they don't allow TV for their kids and naturally all their kids do when they go anywhere with a TV is park themselves in front of it because it is such a novelty and other families where there is zero communication between them all because TV is God kwim? Both of those extremes are bad IMO. If you are concerned about it, maybe you can have structured viewing so you pick and choose which shows you think are OK for him to watch.