But how much time of our life, we are watching TV?
* An opinion of a participant at a message board:
"According to the TV Turn Off Network (formerly TV-Free America) people watch an average of 4 hours and 35 minutes a day. If you watch just 4 hours of television every day (not an outlandish estimate), and live to be 70, it will amount to 11.6 years of continuous television watching."
Link:We spend 11 years our lives
How much T.V is effecting our health,lives, cultures, latest studies show a clear picture of it.
As to a report where watching T.V is considered "Electric Herion" and is called a serious addiction. And effects of this addiction are analyzed very clearly here:
"Not unlike drugs or alcohol, the television experience allows the participant to blot out the real world and enter into a pleasurable and passive mental state. The worries and anxieties of reality are as effectively deferred by becoming absorbed in a television program as by going on a 'trip' induced by drugs or alcohol. And just as alcoholics are only vaguely aware of their addiction, feeling that they control their drinking more than they really do ('I can cut it out any time I want—I just like to have three of four drinks before dinner'), people similarly overestimate their control over television watching. Even as they put off other activities to spend hour after hour watching television, they feel they could easily resume living in a different, less passive style. But somehow or other, while the television set is present in their homes, the click doesn't sound. With television pleasures available, those other experiences seem less attractive, more difficult somehow.
"Finally it is the adverse effect of television viewing on the lives of so many people that defines it as a serious addiction. The television habit distorts the sense of time. It renders other experiences vague and curiously unreal while taking on a greater reality for itself. It weakens relationships by reducing and sometimes eliminating normal opportunities for talking, for communicating." [p.p. 23-25, Marie Winn, THE PLUG IN DRUG; Penguin, 1977. ISBN - 0-14-007698-0]
Washington Post, Terence McKenna's FOOD OF THE GODS says, "television is emotionally equivalent to electronic heroin"
Link for the article: Report
I have given more information about how TV affects our brain at one of my article:
You-watch-tv-to-turn-your-brain-off/
More articles:
- Why-You-Want-to-Keep-Your-Baby-Away-From-the-TV--12053.aspx
- tv-is-not-the-truth-even-if-you-think-it-is.htm
- parents_arent_limiting_kids_tv_media_time
- tv-does-more-damage-to-your-children-than-you-ever-imagined.htm
- tv_be_gone.htm
- TV and Games Linked to Antisocial Behavior
* The children's communication charity I CAN has conducted further research to find out why language skills are declining.
Its poll of 1,000 Britons suggests that parents are so caught up with their daily routines - including TV viewing - they are neglecting to find time to chatter to their children.
According to the survey, a third of parents spend less than two hours a day engaged in conversation with their children.
However 38 per cent spend more than two hours a day in front of the television and 47 per cent spend at least two hours on domestic duties.
The findings sparked warnings that busy parents are failing to realise the importance of conversation in the home.
Scientific studies have shown that talking to children, especially under-fives, is crucial for brain development.
Article link: 'Parents spend more time watching TV than talking to their children'
* A site dedicated for screen time awareness( About turning off the TV): TV Turn Off
Few words about the site:
"Center for SCREEN-TIME Awareness( TV Turn Off.org) provides information so people can live healthier lives in functional families in vibrant communities by taking control of the electronic media in their lives, not allowing it to control them."
*Mark Stibich, PhD, is a behavior change expert, over 10 years of experience in helping individuals make health changes and increase their wellness. His opinion about watching tv:
From Mark Stibich, Ph.D.,
1. Television Eats Your Time
2. Television Makes You Stressed
3. Television Makes You Overweight
4. Television Makes You Uninteresting
5. Television Ruins Your Relationships
6. Television is Not Relaxation
7. Television Loses Opportunities
8. Television is Addictive
Television can become addictive. Signs of TV addiction include:
-using the TV to calm down
-not being able to control your viewing
-feeling angry or disappointed in how much TV you watch
-feeling on edge if kept from watching
-feeling a loss of control while watching
9. Television Makes You Buy Things
10. Television Costs Money
Article link: Turn off TV
* A parents suggestion to limit watching tv
