Author’s practical guidance
The television nobody is watching
Source named in the book: research on background television and young children (Anderson)
It is on for company while everyone gets on with something else.
Say this now
“Nobody is watching this. I'm turning it off.”
Said to the room. No ceremony and no discussion.
“It goes off while we eat.”
One rule, one slot, easy to keep.
Do this
- Switch it off when nobody is watching it, rather than turning it down.
- Protect meals first if you only protect one thing in the day.
- Use sound without pictures when you want company — it does far less.
- Notice how long they play.
- Try two weeks off before deciding it makes no difference in your house.
Avoid this
- "They aren't even watching it." Correct, and that is not where the cost is.
- Leaving it on through meals. The meal is one of the few reliable talking slots.
- Turning the sound down instead of it off. Half of it is the movement.
If it repeats
If the house feels unbearably quiet without it, that is a real thing and worth taking seriously. Something with no picture gives you the company without shortening their play, and it is the substitution most families end up making.
Why the book suggests this
It is on for company while everyone gets on with something else. Nobody is watching it and it feels like it costs nothing. It is one of the better documented things in this whole area, and it does not cost nothing.
When something is playing in the background, small children play in shorter bursts and stay with one thing less. The adults in the room also talk to them less and respond more slowly without noticing any of it. Both effects show up reliably in observed play sessions, and both ease when the thing is switched off.
Related prepared situations
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45 prepared situations in this family area.