THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF TELEVISION

Today, the average Indian watches close to four hours of TV each day. Based on this, by age 65, the average Indian citizen will have spent nearly 9, nonstop, 24 hour-a-day years glued to "the tube."

98. 5 percent of Indian households have at least one television set 90% of Indian households have two or more TV sets 87% of Indian households have at least one VCR or DVD player The average Indian home has the TV on more than 51 hours a week. (Obviously, the TV is on many more hours a week than each family member spends watching it.)

TV AND CHILDREN
81% of children ages 2-7 watch TV alone and unsupervised 70% of day care centers use TV during a typical day 54% of 4-6 year-olds who, when asked to choose between watching TV and spending time with their fathers, said they would prefer to watch television

TV AND CHILDREN CONTD

It has been shown that children who watch TV more than 10 hours a week suffer negative academic effects The average Indian child ages 2-11 watches television 20 hours a week

TV AND VIOLENCE
BY AGE 18, THE AVERAGE Indian CHILD SEES 200,000 VIOLENT ACTS ON TV. BY AGE 18, CHILDREN WITNESSES ALMOST 20,000 MURDERS ON TV MOST BY HANDGUNS. 73% OF THE TIME THE PEOPLE IN TV DRAMAS WHO COMMIT VIOLENT ACTS GO UNPUNISHED.

TV AND VIOLENCE CONTD

47% PERCENT OF VIOLENT SITUATIONS SHOW NO REAL HARM TO THE VICTIMS, AND 58 PERCENT SHOW NO REAL PAIN. ONLY 4 PERCENT OF VIOLENT PROGRAMS SHOW NONVIOLENT ALTERNATIVES TO SOLVE PROGRAMS.

80% OF HOLLYWOOD EXECUTIVES THINK THERE IS A LINK BETWEEN TV VIOLENCE AND REAL-LIFE VIOLENCE.

TV and Obesity
During Saturday morning cartoons there are typically more than 200 "junkfood" commercials. At least 12 medical studies link excessive television watching to increasing rates of obesity.

In 1963, 4.5% of children ages 6 to 11 were seriously overweight; by 2001, this percentage had more than tripled.

TV and Commercials
Before graduating high school the average Indian child will see 360,000 commercials. By age 65, this number will expand to two-million commercials. The number of commercials in TV programs per hour has been increasing each year.

Why We Watch TV

We like to be entertained.
We like excitement. We like to see handsome men and sexy women. We like to vicariously (and safely) experience the experiences of other people. We like to be drawn into fantasy worlds that we will probably never be able to experience first hand. Maybe most of all, we like to passively relax in front of "the tube," select our vicarious experiences, and let them flood over us without any real effort on our part.