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
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
Content Analysis:
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
The typical American child will witness 8,000 murders and
100,000 acts of televised violence in his lifetime. Source:
American Psychological Association.
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
"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