Children's TV Exposure Reaches 'Startling' Levels, Study Finds

On any given day, children in the U.S. are exposed to nearly four hours of background TV -- a finding that experts say may take a toll on children's development.

Research measuring direct, foreground television exposure suggests that between birth and age 6, the average child in the U.S. watches nearly an-hour-and-a-half per day. But the new study, published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics, is the first to quantify kids' indirect exposure to TV.


Jessica Taylor Piotrowski, an assistant professor with the Amsterdam School of Communication Research at the University of Amsterdam, told The Huffington Post that "the sheer amount of exposure is startling" and that the "background TV exposure has been linked to lower attention when kids are playing and weaker parent-child interactions,"

Researchers conducted a telephone survey of more than 1,450 parents or caregivers in the U.S. who have a child between 8 months and 8 years old. They were asked to fill out a diary about their child's typical day, noting when the child ate, slept and traveled from place to place. For each activity, parents were asked if there was a TV on in the background.

Overall, kids were exposed to nearly four hours of background TV on a typical day, and children under the age of 2 had even greater exposure, at 5.5 hours of background TV per day. Older children were in a room with a TV on for around two hours and 45 minutes per day. Children living in single-parent homes had more exposure, as did children in the poorest households and those with televisions in their room.