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TV Reduction
Benefits of reducing TV and screen time
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As parents, childcare and health care providers, you have influence over the amount of television the children in your care are able to watch. Watching television, including movies and video games, takes time away from the physical activity that kids need every day to be healthy and happy.
Children who are physically active are less likely to be overweight, are sick less often, do better in school, sleep better, and are less likely to feel sad, depressed, or stressed. Adults experience many of these same benefits.
The more time a child spends watching TV, the greater chance he or she has of becoming overweight. Overweight children face many health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, respiratory (breathing) problems, trouble sleeping, and depression.
Watching too much TV can not only keeps kids sedentary instead of active, but kids also see about 40,000 ads on TV each year, most of which are for candy, cereal and fast food. These ads pressure kids to choose unhealthy foods to eat.
2006 television reduction campaign
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A public education campaign launched in 2006 by Public Health - Seattle & King County informs families about how television viewing can impact kids’ health, provides activities families can do together instead of watching TV, and offers strategies parents and caregivers can use to reduce the amount of TV viewed in their homes.
The campaign includes radio PSAs, a series of posters, and the “Live outside the box” toolkit in English and Spanish. Download materials below.
Campaign materials: Toolkits, posters and PSA
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Television and health resources
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Most kids in the United States watch 20 to 30 hours of television every week, or about 3 to 4 hours a day. In a year, the average kid spends 900 hours in school and nearly 1,023 hours in front of a TV. That’s 1,023 hours that your family could spend together playing, riding bikes, reading, or having fun with friends!
For more information on how television can impact kid’s health, visit:
American
Academy
of Pediatrics:
Kaiser Family Foundation:
Resources for Parents and Caregivers
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For more information on fun activities kids and families can do without TV, visit:
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