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"I watched TV - it's such a bad idea - it brings you down". Angela Jaggi

SOURCE: http://Othello.localaccess.com/hardebeck - hardebeck@localaccess.com

STATISTICS:

Television viewing:

     Children aged 2-5 average 25 hours per week watching TV. Source: AC Nielsen Co., 1990
     Children aged 6-11 average more than 22 hours per week watching TV. Source: AC Nielsen Co., 1990
     Children aged 12-17 average 23 hours per week watching TV. Source: AC Nielsen Co., 1990
     30% of middle-aged men (median age in the study was 39.5) watch TV 3 or more hours per day, while another 61%
     watch TV 1-2 hours per day. Source: 1989 study by Larry Tucker at Brigham Young University
     .
     "By the time most Americans are 18 years old, they have spent more time in front of the television set than they have
     spent in school, and far more than they have spent talking with their teachers, their friends or even their parents." Quote
     from Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children, Television and the First Amendment, by Newton Minnow, former
     Chairman of the FCC, and Craig LaMay, 1995
     "By first grade, most children have spent the equivalent of three school years in front of the TV set." Quote from
     Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children, Television and the First Amendment, by Newton Minnow, former Chairman
     of the FCC, and Craig LaMay, 1995
     .
     62% of fourth graders say they spend more than three hours per day watching TV. Source: Educational Testing
     Service study, 1990
     64% of eighth graders report watching more than three hours of TV per day. Source: Educational Testing Service
     study, 1990
     .
     By the time today's child reaches age 70, he or she will have spent approximately seven years watching TV. Source:
     American Academy of Pediatrics study, 1990

Intellectual, academic, psychological and social:

     "Television provides an escape from reality not unlike that of drugs or alcohol. A person can slip away into the fantasy
     world offered by television programs and effectively impede the pressures and anxieties of their own lives. This is similar
     to 'going on a trip' induced by drugs or alcohol." Quote from The Plug-In Drug by Marie Winn, 1985
     .
     There is a direct correlation between the amount of time a child spends watching TV and their scores on standardized
     achievement tests - the more TV watched, the lower the scores. Source: 1980 study by the California Department of
     Education which studied the TV habits and test scores of half a million children
     "We suspect that television deters the development of imaginative capacity insofar as it preempts time for spontaneous
     play." Quote from a publication distributed by the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry
     .
     "Every day, all across the United States, a parade of louts, losers and con-men whom most people would never allow in
     their homes enter anyway, through television." Quote from Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children, Television and the
     First Amendment, by Newton Minnow, former Chairman of the FCC, and Craig LaMay, 1995
     "Unsupervised television is like letting your children play out on the street at any hour of the day or night with whomever
     they come across." Quote by University of Massachusetts psychology professor Daniel R. Anderson in his 1988
     study of TV's influence on children's education
     .
     "The primary danger of the television screen lies not so much in the behavior it produces - although there is danger there-
     as in the behavior it prevents: the talks, the games, the family festivities and arguments..." Quote from The Plug-In Drug
     by Marie Winn, 1985
     .
     On prime-time TV, men outnumber women at least 3 to 1, while in the real world, there are actually slightly more women
     in the population. Source: 15-year study by Dr. George Gerbner, Dean of the Annenburg School of
     Communications at the University of Pennsylvania
     On prime-time TV, there are significantly smaller proportions of young people, old people, blacks, Hispanics, and other
     minorities than in the U.S. population at large. Source: 15-year study by Dr. George Gerbner, Dean of the
     Annenburg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania
     Crime is at least 10 times as prevalent on TV as in the real world. Source: 15-year study by Dr. George Gerbner,
     Dean of the Annenburg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania
     .
     Television contains substantial amounts of "irregular driving" - squealing brakes, speeding, screeching tires and property
     damage. Death and physical injury were infrequent, however, and legal penalties rare. Source: 1983 study in the
     Journal of Communication

Violence:

     The typical American child will witness 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of televised violence in his lifetime. Source:
     American Psychological Association.
     "Preschoolers have difficulty separating the fantastic from the real, especially when it comes to television fare; its vividness
     makes even the fantastic seem quite real." Quote from "Monitoring TV Time," by Lillian G. Katz, Parents, January
     1989
     "Much of what they (children) see on TV represents violence as an appropriate way to solve interpersonal problems, to
     avenge slights and insults, make up for injustice, and get what you want out of life." Quote by University of Michigan
     psychologist Dr. Leonard Eron, whose landmark 22-year study of TV's effects tracked more than 800 people
     from age 8 to adulthood.
     .
     More than 3,000 studies over the past 30 years offer evidence that violent programming has a measurable effect on
     young minds. Source: Christian Science Monitor, July 6, 1993
     .
     In 1980, the most violent prime-time show on TV registered 22 acts of violence per hour. In 1992 the most violent
     prime-time show (Young Indiana Jones) registered 60 acts of violence per hour. Source: National Coalition on
     Television Violence
     In 1992, WGN's "Cookie's Cartoon Club," Fox's "Tom and Jerry Kids," and Nickelodeon's "Looney Tunes" averaged
     100, 88 and 80 acts of violence per hour, respectively. Source: National Coalition on Television Violence
     .
     Half of North America's murders and rapes can be attributed directly or indirectly to television viewing. Source:
     Seven-year statistical analysis study by Dr. Brandon Centerwall at the University of Washington
     After the introduction of television in South Africa in 1974, the murder rate among the white population increased by 56
     percent over the next nine years. Source: Seven-year statistical analysis study by Dr. Brandon Centerwall at the
     University of Washington

Financial, material and legal:

     "...annual gross television-broadcasting revenues in the U.S. are conservatively estimated at about $25 billion..." Quote
     from Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children, Television and the First Amendment, by Newton Minnow, former
     Chairman of the FCC, and Craig LaMay, 1995
     "Living with television means growing up in a world of about 22,000 commercials a year, 5,000 of them for food
     products, more than half of which are for low-nutrition sweets and snacks." Quote by Dr. George Gerbner, Dean of
     the Annenburg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania
     .
     "The airwaves are public property. No one can own them because they belong to everyone...Consequently, someone
     must make certain that when the valuable portion of the spectrum is used, it is used in such a way that at least benefits the
     rest of us - those who can't use it. This is called serving the public interest. Through the Communications Act the people
     have given the broadcaster the exclusive right to use a portion of the airwaves, but on the condition that he or she serve
     the public interest." Quote from Mass Media Law, by Don R. Pember, 1987

Physical:

     Body metabolism (and calorie-burning) is an average of 14.5 percent lower when watching TV than when simply lying in
     bed. Source: Study by Robert Klesges at Memphis State University
     Men who watch television 3 or more hours a day are twice as likely to be obese than men who watch for less than an
     hour. Source: 1989 study by Larry Tucker at Brigham Young University
 
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Health warning for 'square-eyed' youngsters
16/07/2004 - 10:00:17

Millions of children and teenagers could be damaging their health by watching too much television, a new study showed today.

Those who sat in front of the TV for more than two hours a day were at higher risk of smoking, gaining excess weight, and having high cholesterol as adults.

Their cardiovascular fitness – a measure of how well the heart is working - was also more likely to be poor at the age of 26.

Scientists in New Zealand who carried out the study urged parents to limit their children’s TV viewing to no more than one to two hours a day.

Ideally, youngsters should be rationed to less than an hour a day, they said.

An expert commenting on the results said they strengthened the case for a ban on food advertisements aimed at children.

The study led by Dr Robert Hancox, at the University of Otago, New Zealand, involved about 1,000 children born in 1972 and 1973.

They were followed up at various intervals until early adulthood. During this time, parents provided details of weekly television viewing.

At the age of 26, assessments were made of participants’ body mass index (BMI) - a measurement relating height and weight – blood pressure, cholesterol, and cardiovascular fitness.

Writing in The Lancet medical journal, the researchers said a clear link was found between extensive TV viewing and a range of heightened health risks.

They estimated that among 26-year-olds, 17% of being overweight, 15% of raised blood cholesterol, 17% of smoking and 15% of poor cardiovascular fitness could be attributed to watching television for more than two hours a day during childhood and adolescence.

No link was found between television viewing and blood pressure, however.

The associations remained after adjustment for factors such as social background, BMI at age five, parents’ BMI, parental smoking, and physical activity at 15 years old.

Dr Hancox said: “Although the adult health indicators that we have found to be associated with child and adolescent television viewing are unlikely to result in clinical health problems by the age of 26 years, they are well established risk factors for cardiovascular illness and death later in life.

“Our results suggest that excessive television viewing in young people is likely to have far-reaching consequences for adult health.

“We concur with the American Academy of Pediatrics that parents should limit children’s viewing to one to two hours per day; in fact, data suggest that less than one hour a day would be even better.”

He acknowledged that parents might find it difficult to impose such a regime and would need a lot of support and encouragement.

But he pointed out that it was worth the effort because adult lifestyle changes aimed at losing weight, improving fitness, lowering cholesterol levels and giving up smoking were “notoriously difficult to achieve”.

In an accompanying article, American expert Dr David Ludwig, from Harvard Medical School in Boston, said it was now clearer than ever that TV food advertisements targeting children should be banned.

He said: “The argument for action is based not only on strong scientific evidence, but also on common sense.

“In an era when childhood obesity has reached crisis proportions, the commercial food industry has no business telling toddlers to consume fast food, soft drinks, and high-calorie, low-quality snacks – all products linked to excessive weight gain.”

A precedent for limiting the marketing of products seen as harmful to children already existed in the form of restrictions on the sale of tobacco, he argued.

Dr Ludwig said: “Measures to limit television viewing in childhood and ban food advertisements aimed at children are warranted, before another generation is programmed to become obese.”

A spokeswoman for CBBC, which broadcasts BBC TV programmes for children, said average children’s television viewing in the UK had fallen from 166 minutes a day in 2001 to 154 minutes in the first three months of this year.

She said: “It’s perhaps too simplistic to point the finger at TV viewing. There may be far more complex reasons why children sit around at home more and take too little exercise, for instance the fact that we live in a risk-averse society.

“Twenty years ago 80% of children either walked or cycled to school, and last year it was just 5%, which is a massive reduction.

“Children also spend a lot of time using computers. A recent report said 87% of kids played on a computer game last year, and 75% of seven to 14-year-olds have a PC at home.

“Sedentary behaviour should be a cause for concern, but we should sound a note of caution about looking for a single factor behind it.”

She said CBBC offered a range of programmes, many of which were designed to encourage our-door activities and sport.

TV is bad for children's education, studies say

Jan 2009

A researcher states, “Compared with people who watched less than two hours of television daily, those who watched more than four hours a day had a 46 percent higher risk of death from all causes and an 80 percent increased risk for CVD-related death.”

With every hour spent in front of the TV, there is an 11 percent increased risk of death from all causes, 9 percent higher risk of cancer death, and an 18 percent risk of a CVD related death.

http://www.everyjoe.com/articles/watching-tv-can-shorten-your-life-span/

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2010-Mar

"Our findings give some reassurance that it is fine to limit TV viewing," she said. "In fact, it may result in stronger relationships between young people, their friends and their parents."

"In both studies, we found that high television use, or even high computer use, was related to relationship issues," Richards said, adding that strong relationships with parents and friends are important for the healthy development of teens to adulthood.