"They put an off button on the TV for a reason. Turn it off . . . I really don't watch much TV."

-- President George W. Bush, C-SPAN interview, January 2005

"American children and adolescents spend 22 to 28 hours per week viewing television, more than any other activity except sleeping. By the age of 70 they will have spent 7 to 10 years of their lives watching TV."

-- The Kaiser Family Foundation

"You watch television to turn your brain off and you work on your computer when you want to turn your brain on."

-- Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer and Pixar, in Macworld Magazine, February 2004

"Everybody’s got values . . . The thing that frightens me is the way that an eroding public school system . . . and television on all over the place is leading to a steady dumbing down of the American public and a corrosion of basic critical thinking in the population."

-- Jamie Raskin, American University law professor, November 2004 on the Democracy Now! radio program

"Protestant clergy named divorce, negative influences from the media, and materialism as the three greatest threats to families in their communities."

-- from an Ellison Research study of 695 Protestant church ministers nationwide, October 2004

"The media can wreak great harm on the family when it offers an inadequate or even distorted vision of life, of the family itself and of religion and morality."

-- Pope John Paul II, May 2004

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Average daily allotments of household and individual television viewing increased from the previous year to reach all-time highs during the 2005-06 season.

"These results demonstrate that television still holds its position as the most popular entertainment platform," said Patricia McDonough of Nielsen Media Research. "At this point, consumption of emerging forms of entertainment, including Internet television and video on personal devices, seems not to be making an impact on traditional television viewing."

The total average time per household in 2005-06 was eight hours and 14 minutes per day.

-- Reuters (September 22, 2006)

Table Of Contents

Reviews The role of advertising in television -- a review of Jerry Mander's Four Arguments For The Elimination Of Television. A Review of Robert McChesney's The Problem Of The Media The Universal OFF! - TV B-Gone Advertisers have their eyes on you -- a review of Spy TV and the threat of interactive television. How television affects the mind:-- a review of the movie The Tube. Living In A Culture Of Fear: a review of the movie Bowling For Columbine. An Exhortation On Values -- A Review Of Media Violence Alert -- by Erica Albanese Why Network is the greatest anti-television movie ever made. Amused To Death -- an analysis of Roger Waters' musical commentary (and a review of Waters' "In The Flesh" live performance).
Illustration by Howard Schechtman	General Commentary How Television Fuels The Class War Video Memory Implantation: The Changing Human Brain A Nation of Morons: Is Television Making Us Stupid? Have You Fallen for these 7 Negative Attitudes Pushed by the Media? by John Place Digital TV -- Just Say No! The Boob Tube Part 1: Breasts Bad, Guns Good The Boob Tube Part 2: The Breasts of Britney Spears vs. The Military Industrial Complex Television's Hidden Agenda The Beautiful People Syndrome -- How Television Warps Your Mind. War TV: American Television's Feel-Good Conflict. How Can War Be Wholesome Family Entertainment? U.S. Presidential Election 2004: The Perils of Punditry and Propaganda Being On TV: In Front Of The Camera On "Because I Said So With Maggie Cassella." The Zen of Television The Creation of Network Zombies Television Static: Why Watching TV Will Give You A Headache Television vs. Computers
Health & Education Television Addiction Identification and Self-Help Guide Short Attention Span Theatre Presents The Television Attention Deficit Filling Their Minds With Death: TV Violence and Children Television, Diet and Advertising: Why Watching TV Makes You Fat. How Television Images Affect Children. The Impact of Television & Video Entertainment on Student Achievement in Reading and Writing.	"Zoned Out" Illustration by Heath Patterson
	Programs & Ratings Television's Culture of Stupidity: 2005 The Year In Review Wife Swap: Children and Reality TV by Jenifer Dana Miller Television's Culture of Stupidity: December 2004 The Bachelorette 2004: The Reality of Television Escapism Television Advertising: Past, Present and Future Ratings Update: December 2003 The Bachelorette: This is Dating Reality? by Jenifer Dana Miller Lessons of The Love Cruise: The Reality of "Reality" Television Ratings & Advertising 2000: What Are Americans Really Watching?!
The Networks Big Media 2007: For The Love of Money The Billion Dollar Players: Television Network Revenue Update 2004 Why Fox News Channel Is An Industry Joke Merger Wars - the NBC-Vivendi deal and media globalization. Orwell Rolls In His Grave -- movie review The Comcast Media Pac-Man Are You Cable Ready? by Jenifer Dana Miller (one woman's experience with Comcast D igital Cable) Mergermania 2003 - the FCC's new rules will help the big get bigger. Mergermania 2000 -- it's all about money Corporate Television 1997 -- Who owns the networks? Mergermania -- the effects of the 1996 Telecom Act.
Found on a wall in Glasgow, Scotland Photo taken by Brian Aslak Gylte from Norway	International Panem et Circenses: How Silvio Berlusconi Rules Italy (2004) Television In Japan The BBC Television Licence -- A TV Ownership Tax That Is Not So Easily Avoided. Viewcrime by Paul Jacob (a perspective on the BBC TV licence) The Ultimate Couch Potato -- the anti-TV display at the Millennium Dome in London.
Downloads Turn Off Your TV podcast Kill Your Television Theme Song by Rob Williams Misled by Only Now Existing Kill Your Television Software Downloads Virtual TV Smashing -- download anti-television MP3 songs, sound clips, and movies.
	Poems & Essays I'm Addicted To TV by Dare Snow TV by Ron Kaufman I just killed my TV by Ken Rubin you are being brainwashed by Jersey Mike A Self-guided Meditation on Television by Damien Hoffman Poems by Iris Denyse Milliken Pamela Anderson: Feminist Tribute by Erica Albanese . . . .and now a word from our sponsor. Surviving The Clock Of Life by Greg Lowe A Television Poem by Jennifer Siegel Spare Time by Carrie Lawson Shockwave by Leon Easter Flower Power by Lucky Duck Television is Not Your Friend by R.K. Cowles A TV Prayer "Today, Tonight and Tomorrow" by Salvador Dali The Revolution Will Not Be Televised by Gil Scott-Heron 57 Channels (And Nothin' On) by Bruce Springsteen Television by Bad Religion Jimmy Jet And His TV Set by Shel Silverstein Cartoons about TV
Public Opinions Join The Discussion: Life Outside The Box - express your opinion through this online discussion board (outside link). Public Opinion Section - Comments from cyberspace about television. Public Opinions Part II - More comments from KYTV readers. Public Opinions Part III - Why reading and writing are more fun. Public Opinions Part IV - Hate Mail and Weird Mail Public Opinions Part V - Families and Television Public Opinions Part VI - More Comments And Criticisms Public Opinions Part VII - Comments (2006 - 2007)
Illustration by eian click picture to see full version	Non-Television Activities Good Books -- what to do instead of watching the tube. Bored? Take A Hike! -- nature photos to inspire you. Turn Off Your TV and Exercise! The Body-for-LIFE program can show you how. Things To Do: Instead Of Watching TV
Anti-TV Resources Take Back Your Brain! Go TV Video Game Free! (songs and info) Bob, the Media Time Management Device The TV Inhibitor: Turn off the TV and play with your kids Information about TV Turnoff Week. Links to other related sites. Bibliography of print resources -- for further reading.

About the creator of TurnOffYourTV.com

"I think that too much media in the hands of one powerful entity or one individual is a mistake. I think it runs counter to the foundation of our country. I think it runs counter to the need for Americans to know that they are getting news and information from multiple sources that are not singularly controlled."

-- Senator and Presidental Candidate John Kerry, June 2004

"I thank the Congress for reducing the chances that the hours spent in church or synagogue or in discussion around the dinner table about right and wrong and what can and cannot happen in the world will not be undone by unthinking hours in front of a television set."

-- President Bill Clinton upon signing the Telecommunications Act of 1996 on the V-chip, designed to help parents block out violence on television.

"I don't sit in front of anything right now. I mean, I don't watch television, and I make my living out of it. It's not out of any great principle. I work at it all day. I'm traveling, at night I'm going (to give) speeches. Other than watching sports and the news, I just don't watch it."

-- Talk show host Jerry Springer in an interview with the San Jose-Mercury News, January 2000

"Children cannot learn to read by watching television. Television is just background noise and a distraction."

-- First Lady Laura Bush during the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, July 2000

"As you become able to pull back out of the immersion in the TV set, you can widen your perceptual environment to again include the room you are in.

Your feelings and personal awareness are rekindled. With self-awareness emerging you can perceive the quality of sensory deadness television induces, the one-dimensionality of its narrowed information field, and arrive at an awareness of boredom.

This leads to channel switching at first and eventually turning off the set."

-- Jerry Mander, author of Four Arguments For the Elimination Of Television

Feb. 26, 2011

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