For teen-agers, television has radically changed behavior. According to one survey, they spend 1,500 hours a year watching television, while only 600 hours a year in school, and 33 hours a year in conversation with their parents. Programming has a strong influence on beliefs and attitudes. From news reporting to dramas, television is overrun by presentations that sensationalize the paranormal and give science little credit. Network news magazines typically profile paranormal claims ranging from miracles to psychics without providing a critical, scientific perspective.
Local newscasts are even worse.
Top-rated TV and film dramatizations often center on transcendental or paranormal themes. Not only is the paranormal championed in these dramas, but science is shown in a negative light. Studies conducted over the last several years show a tentative link between media presentations and the way audiences think about paranormal claims. Other studies show that habitual viewers of entertainment television are more likely than infrequent viewers to hold negative opinions about science and positive opinions about pseudoscience. They are also more likely to believe that science is dangerous, that scientists are odd and peculiar people, and that a career in science is undesirable.