I have three kids, and a TV. My older two are teenagers, one of whom has autism, that I raised as a single mother. There were times I prayed for one or both of them to sit and zone in front of the TV for an hour…a half-hour…hell, ten minutes. The TV is on, but there is no sitting there entranced. There never has been for any of the kids. My teenagers now will sometimes sit and watch a show or a movie, but still don’t just do the couch potato thing.

That said, however, I grew up in a family where there was no tv in the home for most of my childhood (we had a tv for about six months, which is where my sesame street memories come from, that and visits to grandparents), and I found that it had a forbidden fruit quality for us, which I’m not sure is healthy either. People may have lived without tv for most of human history, but they mostly didn’t live without it when tvs were everywhere .

I also don’t distinguish, as many people do, between tv and film, or the internet, for that matter. It always surprises me when people say “oh, we don’t have tv” but they take their kids to movies, which are a physically and mentally even more encompassing experience – after all, while watching Sesame Street on a video at home, the kid can also be fighting with their sister , not so much at the theater.

Sharon

It will be interesting to see who is the first researcher who makes connections between the increasing occurrence of ADHD and TV watching among young children. Kids are now even parked in front of the TV whilst in daycare, spending 1/3rd of their waking lives in front of the TV
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h7-rfWGFLkA6JDu6LWXc9PKA47wgD9C51TDO0

It is entirely possible to live with no television in the house; our ancestors did it for thousands of years. It seems people use it as a cheap babysitter.