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TV is an important influence on child development and behavior. It is essential that parents help their children use TV as a positive, creative force, and help them avoid TV's negative influences.
* The AAP recommends that parents limit children's television viewing to 1 to 2 hours per day, and spend more time on activities such as reading, athletics, physical conditioning and alternative hobbies.
* American children view over 23 hours of television per week.
* Teenagers view an average of 21 to 22 hours of television per week.
* By the time today's children reach age 70, they will have spent 7 to 10 years of their lives watching television.
* Television contributes to obesity. Children who watch a lot of television are less
physically fit, because television takes time away from physical play. (Source: AAP
brochure: Television and the Family, Committee on Communications.)
* TV advertising and programming can adversely affect learning and behavior of children and adolescents and detract from time spent reading or using other active learning skills.
* American children have viewed an estimated 360,000 advertisements on television before graduating from high school.
* American children view nearly 2,000 beer and wine commercials per year on television. Beer, wine and liquor companies spend over $2 billion per year on advertising and promotion.
* By age 18, young people will have viewed an estimated 200,000 acts of violence on television alone.
* The average American teenager will view nearly 14,000 sexual references, innuendoes and jokes per year.
* On average, American children are exposed to 5 violent acts per hour on prime-time TV.
