average American spends half of their 5 hrs.

of leisure per day on television

- American Time-Use Survey, by US Dept of Labor, Sept 2004

within approximately 30 seconds her brain waves shifted from primarily beta waves (conscious, alert
attention) to primarily alpha waves (a receptive, light trance state)

shift from unfocused left brain logical analytical processing to right brain emotive uncritical processing

Right brain activity additionally produces Beta-endorphins and enkephalins, natural opiates that make us
feel good and reinforce the activity

the longer people spent playing video games, the less activity they showed in the prefrontal region of their
brains, which governs emotion and creativity.

And brain activity in the people who continually played games did not recover in the periods when they
weren't playing games, the research showed.

Beta wave activity in people in the videogame group, who spent between two and seven hours each day
playing games, was constantly near zero even when they weren't playing, showing that they hardly used the
prefrontal regions of their brains.

Many of the people in this group told researchers that they got angry easily, couldn't concentrate, and had
trouble associating with friends.

"Children under age 8 are developmentally incapable of discerning the difference between fantasy and
reality,"

infants spend most of their time watching the actions and reactions of other people and model their
behavior based on what they see.

The study found 12-month-olds who watched an actress' videotaped reaction to an object in front of her,
such as a ball, had a similar emotional reaction when presented with the object. For example, after
watching the actress respond positively to the object, the infants happily played with it. But if the actress
had a negative reaction to the object, the infant avoided the ball and chose to play with something else.

children spend more time watching television than engaging in any other activity except sleep.

Children 2 to 11 years old are exposed to an average of 150 to 200 hours of commercial messages or
20,000 commercials a year. spurs us to overconsumption

television images change rapidly, "which is an important contrast to the pace of real life,"

excessive television watching is associated with violence and aggressive behavior in children, along with
bad nutrition habits, obesity, risky sexual behavior, body image problems, and substance abuse.

# American children between the ages of 2 and 17 watch an average of 19 hours and 40 minutes of
television a week (almost all of it unsupervised), yet they spend an average of 38.5 minutes a week in
meaningful conversation with their parents.
# The average American child spends 123 more hours per year watching television than attending school

“Almost anything uses more energy than watching TV” – there is no waking activity we do that burns
fewer calories
in controlled experiments, children who were taught to watch less TV lost more weight

children who watch less TV ask for fewer toys

each year 1000 hrs of TV, 900 hrs of school

by age 18, children will have watched 16,000 murders

54% of 4-6 yr-olds say they would rather watch TV than spend time with Dad

between 1993-1996, homicides reduced by 20%, but network coverage of homicides increased by more
than 7 times

rarely show the consequences of violence

children can develop brand loyalty by age 2

99.5% of the 3,500 research studies over 40 years show a link between media violence and real-life
violence

Dr. Leonard D. Eron’s 32-yr study: watching television was the strongest predictor of aggression later in
life – stronger even than violent behavior as children

television violence dulls emotional response to violence

"Violence on television is frequent, inconsequential, effective, and rewarded. It is practiced as often by the
heroes as by the villains."

by the time the average person reaches the age of 65, she or he will have spent nine full years of life
watching television."

Creativity and imagination -- as well as linear cognitive development--shown to be damaged by television.

"While viewing, the eyes are nearly motionless and defocused in order to encompass the entire screen.
Excessive TV viewing... can seriously impair a child observational skills."

"When viewed for more than 20 hours per week, TV can seriously inhibit the development of verbal-
logical, left brain functions."

the more TV a person watches the more he or she spends.

The lifestyles we see on TV inflate our sense of what's normal

heavy viewers overestimate the percentage of the population who are millionaires, belong to a private gym
and suffer from dandruff and bladder control problems.

Yet while 70 percent described the average American as "very materialistic," only 8 percent felt they were
materialistic themselves.