ABSTRACT
This chapter considers general tendencies in how the commercial media, particularly television, present information and what potential broad effects these media might have on the family. Some of what follows is necessarily speculative. The aim is to stimulate consideration of these ideas, particularly by researchers. Before launching into these ideas, a brief summary of some of my research findings on media use and family life is presented. Complete presentations can be found elsewhere (Kubey, 1990a, 1990b, 1991a; Kubey & Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).
