Children watch estimated 18,000 murders on TV by age 18 and over 200,000 acts of violence
By Hilary White
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 20, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – TV-Turnoff Week is a project of the Washington-based non-profit group Center for Screen Time Awareness that encourages children and adults to watch much less television. Their annual promotion includes two programs TV-Turnoff Week and More Reading, Less TV, “to help people, especially children, to turn off TV and turn on life”.
65 national organizations, including the American Medical Association, the National Education Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, support or endorse TV-Turnoff Week. Since 1995, more than 24 million people have participated.
More Reading, Less TV is a four-week program that has involved 30,000 students. A study showed that students who took the program improved their reading habits and attitudes toward reading, watched less television, read more, and participated in more screen-free activities than before. Recent statistics from Neilson show that the average American household has 2.75 televisions with 50 per cent having three or more, and the average American watches 4 hours and 35 minutes of TV a day.
Katherine Westphal creator of the TV Free System says, “Children watch an estimated 18000 murders on TV by the time they turn 18 and over 200,000 acts of violence. Parents spend an average of 38 minutes per week in meaningful conversation with their children, compared with watching 31½ hours of TV, and television has been found to cause ADHD symptoms in young children.”
To register:
http://www.tvturnoff.org/index.html