[originaltext] An American study found, on average, a child watches between

An American study found, on average, a child watches between four and five hours of television each weekday, and ten hours on Saturday and Sunday. It was also noted that a typical child watches 25, 000 hours of television before his or her 18th birthday. In the life of Children, watching television is a significant sensory ex perience. Many children easily spend more time with the box than they do with any other form of entertainment. Each year children read less and less and watch television more and more. In fact, Americans of all ages watch more television each year. The typical child sits in front of the television about four hours a day -- and for children in lower socioeconomic families the a mount of time thus spent is even greater. In either case, the child spends more time with TV than he or she spends talking to parents, playing with peers, attending school, or reading books. TV time appropriates family time, play time, and the reading time that could pro mote language development. Watching TV is a passive event. Children and adults, remain completely immobile while viewing the box. Most viewing experiences, at least among Americans, are both quiet and non-inter active. All attention is given to the images. Just like the operating room light, television creates an environment that attacks and beats the child; he can respond to it only by bringing into play his shutdown mechanism, and thus becomes more passive. Children arc often hooked. A highly active child will remain inactive while watching TV because that is what the medium requires. To morrow, we shall talk about violence on TV and its effects on children.