Television and the American Child

The statistics are familiar. By the estimates of the A. C. Neilsen Company, children 2-11 years of age watch almost 30 hours of television a week; the figure for teenagers is about 25 hours (Comstock, 1991a). This is not undivided attention, of course, for television viewing is “a discontinuous, often interrupted, and frequently nonexclusive activity for which a measure in hours and minutes serves only as the outer boundary of possible attention” (Comstock, Chaffee, Katzman, McCombs, & Roberts, 1978, pp. 146-147). These are also averages, and individuals vary widely in amount of viewing. Nevertheless, any viewing places some limits on the quantity and quality of attention that can be given to other activities.