The Effects of Television

The scientific evidence is in and it is overwhelming. Watching television has become an unhealthy addiction for tens of millions of people. Disregarding the complete waste of our one precious life, is it really worth shortening it too? Is there a way to reverse the trend or are many people doomed? How did we get into this position?

- A person who watches three house of TV per day is twice as likely to be obese.
- Three hours of TV per day puts you at an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
- Kids witness over 14,000 sexual references on every year.
- Kids witness over 16,000 murders by the age of 18.
- Heavy TV viewers have lower life satisfaction and higher anxiety.
- Viewing violence on TV (of course video games too) causes aggression later in life.
- Pestering and influencing kids ("Nag Factor") results in $300 billion in sales per year ($4,000/child).
- Too much TV watching at ages 1-3 results in ADHD symptoms at age 7.
- The average child views 20,000 30-second commercials in one year.
- On average parents spend just over 38 minutes per week in useful conversation with their kids.
- The average child watches 1,680 minutes of TV weekly.
- 50% of children ages 6-17 have TV's in their bedrooms.
- 70% of daycare centers use TV during the day.
- 2/3's of infants and toddlers watch a screen two hours daily.
- Youths spend 900 hours in school each year.
- Youths watch 1500 hours of TV each year.
- Kids who view violent acts are more likely to fear that something bad will happen to them.
- 66% of people watch television while eating dinner.
- TV is on an average 6 hours, 47 minutes in the American home.
- Kids 8 to 18 years spend 4 hours watching TV each day.
- In addition to TV, kids spend two hours on the computer and playing video games.
- Kids watching TV four hours per day are more likely to be overweight.
- Nielsen research shows the average American watches 5.1 hours every day.
- The number of commercials seen by the average person by age 65 is 2 million.
- When you are watching TV, your higher brain regions shut down and experiences atrophy.
- Media is controlled by only five corporations.

Did I mention the non-productive Internet sites and surfing children and people are engaged in each day on cell phones, mobile devices, and computers? It will be interesting to see the average weight of Americans in 10 years. If I am looking into a career that has long-term potential, solving psychological problems and weight control is probably a good choice. The negative effects of television are huge. Life's short. Find something more useful and rewarding to do, at least some of the time.