According to The Nielsen Company, which tracks trends in media, children aged 2 to 5 spend more than 32 hours per week in from of the TV set and those aged 6 to 11 spend about 28 hours per week watching TV when not in school. The Kaiser Family Foundation found that 71 percent of 8 to 18-year-old children have a TV in their bedroom, 54 percent have a DVD/VCR player, 37 percent have cable/satellite TV and 20 percent have premium channels. More than half of the households in the United States keep television sets on most of the time, including during meals. However, questions of how much television children watch are less valuable than questions of “what” children watch and at what age.
Dimitri A. Christakis of the Seattle Children's Research Institute concludes “No studies to date have demonstrated benefits associated with early infant TV viewing.” He urges parents to avoid exposing children younger than 2 to excessive television viewing. Television affects the young child’s cognitive development, possibly changing the way a child learns. It has a negative impact on a child’s language acquisition, especially if there is no adult present.
Concern about the connection between television and violence is almost as old as the medium itself. 1n 1952, the U.S. House of Representatives held hearings on the subject and concluded that “television broadcast industry was a perpetrator and a deliverer of violence." In 2009, psychologists showed that students who had just watched violent movies and video games were much less likely to help a person. However, other researchers concluded that persons who are already prone to violent behavior may be more likely to play violent video games or enjoy violent movies.
Both psychological health researchers and advertising specialists study the effects of television commercials on viewers. Decisive factors including age, cognitive development and culture all affect viewer’s response to commercials. Studies have shown that children under age 6 view commercials as part of the program, but as they mature, children come to understand that the commercial is a separate entity. Studies have shown that as they age children become less susceptible to the allure of ads and less likely to request that their parents purchase the products advertised. Advertisers use testimonials from celebrities, experts and charismatic people to persuade watchers of the value of their products, adding scientific evidence, fear, humor, repetition, warmth and nostalgia to make commercials more memorable. In a study published in July 2012, Ace Metrix found that unless a humorous ad is also informative, consumers may remember ads but are not necessarily persuaded to buy the product advertised.