TV-Turnoff Week: April 21-27, 2003Tune out TV: Turn on Life!

Our Television Addiction Most of us would admit, albeit grudgingly, that watching less TV would be for the best. Yet the thought of actually taking the plunge and limiting, or even eliminating, television makes us queasy. According to Neilson Media Research, the average American watches four hours of television a day. That adds up to one day per week, two months per year, and 10 solid years by the time you reach 65. Television has become so pervasive that it’s hard to imagine our lives without it. But if you’ve ever had the nagging feeling, as you watch your 9-year-old engrossed in an inane sitcom, that there must be a better way, take heart. Dr. Barbara Brock recently studied a growing movement across the country of families who have tuned out: either by eliminating TV altogether, or at least by watching less than an hour a day. Her study found that you can reduce the negative effects of television on your kids, and increase family harmony — without precipitating World War III in your home. To give you inspiration, here’s what families who don’t watch TV are experiencing instead:

1. TV-Free Kids are Healthier in Every Way The American Academy of Pediatrics says that nothing is more correlated with childhood obesity than the amount of television a child watches. There are three reasons for this: if you’re watching television, you’re not playing ball, throwing Frisbee, or playing tag. You’re also more likely to grab snacks than if you’re up and active. Dr. William Detz of the Centers for Disease Control concludes that "almost anything uses more energy than watching TV." Watching television may also jeopardize our emotional health. I clearly remember the Thursday night I decided to switch off the television. I was dragging myself to bed, depressed yet again. I realized that this depression was a pattern — one that was directly traced to the human misery I watched weekly on ER. I started reading instead, and my mood, just like that of 7-year-old, improved dramatically. Finally, children can suffer academically when they watch too much TV. Jean Healy of Harvard reports that watching too much TV instead of reading actually influences the physical structure of the brain, making it harder to succeed in school. And Dr. Brock found that kids who don’t watch TV have longer attention spans, fewer cases of ADD, read more, and — are you ready for this? — usually receive straight As.

2. TV-Free Families are Close and Harmonious When kids constantly watch other children engaged in petty squabbles, insulting their siblings, and berating their parents, their impressions of family life can become seriously distorted. Even worse, they may not have time to fix these misconceptions, because television is replacing the time children would normally spend with their parents and with each other. The average child spends only 38.5 minutes a week in meaningful conversation with his or her parents. Yet in families where the TV has been eliminated, children spend over one hour each day communicating with their parents. TV can also undermine sibling relationships. Without TV, children need each other for entertainment. With TV, children often squabble over which show to watch, or separate into their own rooms to watch different shows. Dr. Brock’s study found that 70 percent of families reported fewer sibling fights after they eliminated TV.

3. TV-Free Families Have Better Behaved Kids TV doesn’t just lower grades and cause sibling squabbles, it can also directly affect bad behavior. The American Academy of Pediatrics says that the evidence of the correlation between violence and TV viewing, for instance, is incontrovertible. And pediatrician Dr. Thomas Robinson found in a 2001 study that TV also produced greedy kids. Those who didn’t watch TV made far fewer requests for new toys than kids who did. I can attest to this with personal experience. Normally, I can walk my two daughters through a toy store without being subjected to whining and pleading and tugging to get a special toy. But after spending one weekend watching TV at a friend’s house, that peace evaporated. Now my girls wanted all the toys they had seen advertised. We don’t need studies to tell us that TV can change our kids, though. Think about this: if television didn’t influence behavior, would corporations be willing to shell out billions of dollars in advertising each year?