Taming the TV - Handout 1 - Key Facts About Children and TV

1.	U.S. children watch TV an average of 4 hours a day, 28 hours a week, 2,400 hours a year, which totals nearly 18,000 hours by the time they graduate from high school.
2.	In comparison, they spend a mere 13,000 hours in school, from K-12.
3.	American children spend more time watching TV than any other activity, besides sleeping.
4.	Children who watch TV for four or more hours are less likely to be physically active outside school.
5.	Children who watch a large number of violent programs tend to favor using aggression to resolve conflicts.
6.	The average American child will see 8,000 murders on TV before he finishes school.
7.	Children’s Saturday morning cartoons contain an average of 20 to 25 violent acts per hour compared with about 5 violent acts per prime-time television hour.
8.	More than 9 out of 10 food ads on Saturday morning are for sugary cereals and candy bars, salty canned foods, fatty fast food and other junk food.
9.	The average child sees more than 20,000 TV commercials a year.
10.	Children see at least an hour of TV commercials for every 5 hours of programs they watch.
11.	Most children younger than 6 do not understand that the purpose of advertising is to sell a product.
12.	Children who watch four or more hours of TV each day are more likely to believe advertising claims than children who watch TV less often.

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