Do you think we watch too much TV?

People never understood why, when my son was much younger, I restricted the amount of television he was allowed to watch. I wanted my son to enjoy playing outside and reading, enjoying his childhood rather than sat in front of the television. Neither my partner nor I watch that much television these days either, just occasionally movies and the odd episode of CSI. Two friends of mine both have little babies, one is 6 months and the other 9 months and both these girls will happily dump the babies in front of the television to keep them occupied and amused, and can't understand why I feel it is wrong to do so.

i feel that the television is quite an evil object, in that it lures people to waste many productive hours of their day watching sometimes mindless shows! however, i must admit that i am such a person, as i do follow the occasional good series or good telemovies. however, i try to devote most of my time on the tv watching education and informative tv shows, such as documentaries and of course the news channels.

Well I must admit I am always horrified by statistics such as these - especially where children are concerned. Guess I am from a different generation, where TV wasn't available 24/7, and children 40 years ago were certainly not allowed to watch more than maybe an hour a day after their homework was finished. Probably because of that, I can go for days without having TV on at all, and I find the amount of time others spend watching it, almost impossible to believe! Certainly I've read a lot of studies recently that say young children who watch too much TV, are behind their peer group at school with things like reading, writing, and also social integration, and I think it's sad. Used wisely, TV is a good ting for learning and developing peoples' minds, but used badly and too often, it becomes an opiate - and stops people using their brains to think and reason for themselves.

Thanks for the best response hun

I think 12 years is an awful long time to spend in front of the box. When I was younger, my parents would let me watch one TV show a day, and now I'm at university, I don't have a television; all my friends think this is insane. Admittedly, I spend a lot of time of the computer, but I'm sure if I had a TV as well I would have no life! x

Personally i dont watch much tv being a working girl.I watch only particular programs and also too much of watching tv will spoil the eye sight. Due to the prevailance of lot of channels people watch tv more and more in the recent past.I remember when i was a kid there were only 2-3 channels in our country and hence we watched tv very less. I could see people disconnecting the cable network in some houses as their children concentrate very less in their studies and watch tv a lot.

Great topic! I started feeling this way a couple years ago, and decided to quit watching TV. Now I will rent a movie from time to time, but I like it that way, because I'm in control of what I'm renting, I don't have to pay a cable bill each month, and I don't have to watch commercials. I just don't enjoy TV and all the trash and violence that is on there today. I think everyone should quit and go use and abuse their library card!!

I love watching TV- I have certain shows that are a must see for me and I DVR them to avoid the commercials... I wish I had time to watch more tv, I love curling up with my husband and watching a good movie. I suppose that maybe kids today are watching to much tv but they are also spending to much time on line playing games and or whatever and they are not getting enough exercise. My mother always forced me out of the house and away from the television as a kid- guess maybe thats why I don't mind watching it nowadays, kind of like a belated rebellion....lol

I rarely watch TV ,I was more in line

Yes we do watch a lot of TV as we grow older! When we get old the chance of and want to go out is reduced greatly and I guess that TV is the only form of entertainment for old folks.

Now-a-days getting no time to watch TV. I engage myself on net whenever i get the time. Unless there is some favourite programme which i can't stop myself from watching i don't watch tv.