Recently the Associated Press reported the findings of a new study that suggests kids with a TV in their rooms often eat a less-nutritious diet and get inadequate exercise. Their grades tend to be lower, too.

Everyone needs an occasional mental break, or “junk food” for the brain. But when questionable programming becomes the main diet, it crowds out more meaningful activities. Reading, sports, hiking, conversation, and board games utilize action-oriented skills, mental or physical, that contribute to development and education.

Some kids with televisions in their rooms can watch R-rated movies or smuggled DVD’s. Many parents oversee their children’s TV viewing; others let kids watch whatever they want. Sitting or lying for hours before the television keeps kids idle; favorite shows may tempt them away from homework or household chores.

Still, television adds a rich dimension to our culture. Professionally designed children’s programs like Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street help young children learn how to focus their attention and even use critical thinking skills. While it may be difficult to decide what to watch on TV, or when, I think we can generally agree that moderate television viewing for our kids is a reasonable goal.

Here are some informative statistics from parentstv.org:

Average time kids spend watching TV each day: 4 Hours
Children spend more time watching television than in any other activity except sleep. - Huston and Wright, University of Kansas.  "Television and Socialization of Young Children."
54 percent of kids have a TV in their bedroom. - Ibid
44 percent of kids say they watch something different when they're alone than with their parents (25 ercent choose MTV)
66 percent of children (ages 10 to 16) surveyed say that their peers are influenced by TV shows
62 percent say that sex on TV shows and movies influences kids to have sex when they are too young
65 perecnt say that shows like The Simpsons and Married… With Children encourage kids to disrespect parents.

According to the American Psychiatric Association, "The debate is over… For the last three decades, the one predominant finding in research on the mass media is that exposure to media portrayals of violence increases aggressive behavior in children."

Fifteen percent of all parents have used the V-Chip, which was required to be included in all TV sets over 13 inches after January 2000;…. Nearly two-thirds (61%) of parents who have used the V-Chip say they found it "very" useful. - Kaiser Family Foundation, 9/23/04.
By age 18, a U.S. youth will have seen 16,000 simulated murders and 200,000 acts of violence. - American Psychiatric Association
"Not every child who watches a lot of violence or plays a lot of violent games will grow up to be violent.  Other forces must converge, as they did recently in Colorado.  But just as every cigarette increases the chance that someday you will get lung cancer, every exposure to violence increases the chances that someday a child will behave more violently than they otherwise would." - Ibid  Attributed to L. Rowell Huesmann of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

These reports are worth a second thought. Let’s encourage kids to enjoy a variety of activities, and not just those projected on a television or computer screen, and perhaps their grades will improve as a result.