As TV watching increases, family interaction decreases. Forty percent of American families have on the TV while they eat dinner. That s potential communication time that could be spent asking our kids how their day was or complimenting our spouse on a well-cooked meal. The positive effects of less TV on family life are seen in research by Eastern Washington University Professor Barbara Brock. She found that parents in TV-free homes have about an hour of meaningful conversation every day with their children, compared to the national average of 38 minutes a week.
Marriages also benefit from a TV-free environment.
Consider the impact of TV-watching on children. Jean Healy of Harvard believes that watching TV instead of reading may actually influence the physical structure of the brain as it develops. And as television watching among children has increased, so has childhood obesity. We need to change our habits. Instead of flipping through the channels just to see what s on, try scheduling ahead for specific programs.