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Children, Adolescents, and Television

No parents in their right minds would invite a stranger into their home to teach their children for 3 to 5 hours per day; yet the television set is doing precisely that.¹ Television is a powerful teacher of children. Children and adolescents spend more time watching television than in any other activity except sleeping, and more time from age 2 to 18 in front of the television set (15 000 to 18 000 h) than in the classroom (12 000 h).² By the time today's children reach age 70, they will have spent a total of 7 y of their lives watching television. During an average year, an American youngster will be exposed to:^3,4

• More than 14 000 sexual references, innuendos, and jokes—yet <175 will deal with birth control, self-control, abstinence, or sexually transmitted disease;

• Between 1000 and 2000 beer and wine commercials;

• More than 1000 murders, rapes, assaults, and armed robberies, and

• Nearly 20 000 commercials.

These figures notwithstanding, many parents and pediatricians underestimate the power of television to influence attitudes and behavior. Television is an equal opportunity teacher, capable of conveying prosocial messages just as easily as harmful ones. Because television is such a pervasive and influential medium that can affect a variety of health-related behaviors, pediatricians should familiarize themselves with its effects on children and adolescents.

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