Educational Media Reviews Online

A 2005 Kaiser Family Foundation study found that the average child was exposed to television (through programming or video games) for 6 ½ hours every day, a total greater than any other activity except sleeping. A typical child’s home contains 3 TV sets, 3 CD players, 3 VCR or DVD players, 2 video games systems, and a home computer.

These statistics and other findings about the effect of television viewing on children are presented in Remote Control. Concerns about television and children are not new, of course, but seeing the figures spelled out in this documentary is still stunning. One statement at the end is particularly revelatory: When a child born today turns 30, that person will have spent nearly 10 years in front of video or computer screens.

This video doesn’t say that all television watching is bad. And the content of individual programs children watch is not the primary concern. It’s the amount of hours spent watching, and what that is crowding out. Marie Winn, author of The Plug-In Drug, says time in front of a screen is replacing unstructured play time. “Play is the work of little kids,” Winn says, but this important factor in child development has declined 25% between 1981 and 1997, according to the video.

And Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, says the sense of wonder children acquire by being outdoors and exploring is being lost. “It’s pretty hard to develop a sense of wonder sitting in front of a video game playing Grand Theft Auto.” He adds that much of childhood now is secondary experience, taken in through a video or computer screen rather than first-hand.

The opinions of children and their parents are also heard. Two families are profiled in the video. One represents the typical viewing habits of a family. The mother of the children doesn’t come off as uncaring, and she says the viewing is to be done after schoolwork and chores are completed. But the television is on during dinner and the mother likes to watch a program during that time instead of conversing with her sons.

Children in the other family seen spend much more time on outdoor activities than watching television. There is no viewing before 6 o’clock and the television is not on during dinner. Members of the family instead talk about their day and play twenty questions.

The latter family, of course, is intended to be the role model for others to follow. But is the video preaching to the converted? Will parents in average TV-viewing households watch this program and be moved to change their children’s viewing habits?

There’s a larger problem, says media critic Todd Gitlin in the video, with the “itchy trigger-finger, remote control existence” that is dominant in society. Quick and dirty solutions are rewarded and instant gratification is expected. It’s to the video’s credit that it ends on this note rather than allowing a moralistic smugness.