Managing Television Viewing

"Even though you may be together physically while watching TV, that doesn't necessarily constitute quality time."
Louise W. Sullivan, M.D.
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services

Audio Clip 1

Intro  ::   Review

Television watching is one of the most powerful reinforcing events in the contemporary American home. Nothing needs less elaboration than that fact. A recent PTA report revealed that more children felt they would miss TV if it were taken away than they would miss their fathers!

From the studies I read and have done, it is difficult, if not impossible, to reach any conclusion but that TV viewing in families has gotten completely out of hand. Its causal relationship to poor health, obesity, violence, low-school performance, hyperactivity, and warped values, to name a few, has been solidly established. As one family therapist noted, "the thing kids learn from TV is how to stare." If TV viewing is going to be controlled and put into proper perspective in children's lives, it will have to be done at home. To expect the TV industry to clean up its act is idiocy of the first order. No one in that industry is going to walk away from the reinforcers dished out in such abundance no matter how much damage is being done to children. Several years ago the president of NBC, in response to the company's TV "sleaze," said, "It's not important whether I was proud of [it]. It was popular entertainment." "Popular," of course, translates into money, and that is the bottom line! A prominent movie and TV personality recently defended "sex, violence, and obscenity" as "stage conditions [that] have been a part of drama all the way back to Shakespeare." This is the kind of sick apologizing that continues to plunge the entertainment industry deeper and deeper into a sewer of filth and wretchedness, and further away from anything that even remotely resembles professional standards. If these so-called "stage conditions" are destroying society's sense of decency, then it's time to change the stage conditions. I seriously doubt that Shakespeare would condone much that goes on in the name of entertainment today. To expect the government to clean up TV is tantamount to expecting the government to clean up the government. The courts have already demonstrated their indifference. So, Mom and Dad America, it's up to you!

When our children were young (long before TV programming was as awful and disgusting as it is today!), my wife and I became concerned about the time our children spent watching TV, and I wondered what we could do to put TV viewing into proper perspective. We knew it wasn't reasonable to completely disallow TV viewing, but we knew something had to be done to keep it from squeezing out many other important things in their lives, including getting homework done, reading books, doing chores, and being physically active. We were also concerned about the amount of sibling rivalry that occurred in front of the TV where there were never-ending squabbles and arguments over who got to choose, who was in the way, who was talking too loud, and on and on.

We decided to put into place what is called a "token economy" system to control TV viewing. First we collected some data on the kids' behavior before the plan was implemented. We wanted to see what effect, if any, it was having not only on TV viewing, but on other things as well. For one week, we collected data on the amount of time the kids spent watching TV, doing homework, reading books, and playing away from the TV with one another and/or their friends. We also collected data on the frequency of sibling rivalry, and made note of the GPAs of those of our children who were in school.

With data in hand, we explained the program to our children during a Monday night family meeting. It went like this:

1. Each child was given 10 "tokens." These were 1" square pieces of poster board which my wife and I initialed (to prevent counterfeiting!).
2. Each token was worth 1/2 hour of TV viewing. Some programs, which my wife and I regarded as too violent or otherwise distasteful, cost two tokens to view for 1/2 hour. (The children could still watch them, but they paid for it, and they paid dearly!)
3. No matter how many children were watching the same show, each one "paid" for the privilege of watching.
4. Each Monday night, as a family, we would review the TV program for the following week to pick out which programs the family wanted to watch. The children took turns choosing. One program a week was a family freebie, usually a Disney program.
5. All unused tokens were redeemed by my wife and me at the end of the week for ten cents each. (We also eliminated allowances!) (Today the redemption value would be considerably higher, I suspect. Parents who recently put this program into effect in their home told me they redeemed unused tokens for fifty cents each, and have had wonderful success. "A small price to pay," they told me.)
6. Additional tokens could be earned for grade-level book reading. These tokens if unused could also be redeemed at the end of the week for 10¢ each.
7. Sibling rivalry while watching TV resulted in a loss of the TV viewing privilege for all six children for the remainder of the day. Tokens that had been spent for the show being watched at the time of the rivalry were forfeited (that is, they were "spent," no matter how much of the show remained to be seen).

At the time we put this program into effect, we had six children at home ranging in ages from 5 to 15. The program applied equally to all the children, and though it required fine tuning and modification along the way to assure its equitability and effectiveness, it remained in place, as described, for about 3 years.

Regrettably, I no longer have the data and the graphs we kept which showed the program's effect, but it was startling and long lasting. TV viewing steadily decreased until the kids lost interest in it entirely. After only a few weeks, we would go for days without the TV even being turned on. Before long, other events in their lives became more reinforcing than TV, and the number of books being read skyrocketed. Our oldest son read everything Tolkien wrote. Homework increased and grades went up. Sibling rivalry was reduced to a trickle. We credit that program for all but eliminating sibling rivalry as a problem in our home. In every respect, the program was a resounding success.

I've been asked why we quit it. We quit it because we no longer needed it. After 3 years, I took a position with another university and after the move, everyone just decided to eliminate the program. It had served its purpose.

People have asked about TV watching by our children at the homes of their friends. Sure they watched TV at their friends' homes. But it was no big deal. Since our children had to be home by certain times in the afternoon and evening (depending on age), there wasn't that much time to watch TV elsewhere. Furthermore, we didn't even try to control TV viewing in those settings since doing so would have been next to impossible. We concerned ourselves first and foremost with the management of that environment over which we had immediate control, that is, within the walls of our own home, and in this case, that was sufficient.

I've also been asked what conditions need to exist for such a program to work. That is a very good question. The program I have described won't work in all homes. For the program to work, it must be managed. Management, not magic, is the key. Since my wife did not work outside the home, she was always there to oversee things and to give the kids lots of positive strokes for doing things other than watching TV. TV watching was absolutely its only reward, but when the kids weren't watching TV, they got lots of hugs and kisses and positive parental attention.

Access to a TV has to be limited. During our child-rearing years, we had only one TV in the house, and it was situated where it could be managed. Today, nearly 50% of all U.S. school children have a TV in their bedroom! If you have multiple TV sets scattered throughout the house, you can forget about managing their use, unless you have master switches at your control. By the way, if a child has a TV in his/her room, I'd strongly suggest that its use be made contingent on good school performance and the reading of good books!

To make such a program work, the manager (usually the parents) have got to be consistent, and abide the program to a T. If you ever allow yourself to get into a "But you let him do it without paying a token! This isn't fair!" situation, your credibility is badly damaged and your effectiveness as a manager is compromised. There should be no freebies unless they are enjoyed simultaneously by the whole family on a prearranged basis. Such freebies should be few at most. Kids will gang up on parents and if the parents aren't alert and committed, they'll be down for the count and wonder what hit 'em.

Being committed doesn't mean parents have to be mean, negative, and ugly. No! Not at all. Quite on the contrary. They can be-yes, they should be-sweet, kind, understanding, and empathetic, and all of the rest of those wonderful things. The following dialog illustrates how:

Not getting what one wants, whether it's the unearned right to watch TV or anything else, can be turned into a wonderfully positive encounter when done skillfully. And that's what this book is dedicated to!

Though the program described here won't work for all families in all situations, by applying the principles described and discussed in this book, TV viewing can be managed if parents are willing to create an environment in their home that is reasonable. Take a shot at creating your own program, then write me a letter and tell me about it and how it worked. A family in California implemented our token economy system, with a few modifications to make it fit the family, one of which was an "honor system" since both parents worked. In a letter the father wrote me several months after implementing the program he said, "It is wonderful!" He reported that among his five children TV viewing had decreased from as high as 25 hours per week to about 8 hours a week. And, he added, "The children are happy, too." Parents come up with some of the most wonderful ideas and management programs, and I am eager to share them with other parents. I can be reached by writing us at 1668 North 1515 East, Logan, UT 84341. In this regard, one of the best articles I've ever read on TV viewing for children appeared in the October 1991 issue of Reader's Digest, pages 157-162, written by Edwin and Sally Kiester, titled "Make TV Help Your Kids." I recommend it to you.

Obviously, TV isn't all bad. Educational television for use in schools; Sesame Street and other such commercial programs for children; programs of an educational/informational nature such as National Geographic, Wild Kingdom; and wholesome entertainment such as is typically found on the Disney Channel can and do make a valuable contribution to children's education and awareness of the world around them.

But even in these best-case scenarios, control needs to be exercised. Just the very act of passively sitting for long periods of time watching TV has been shown by solid research to be detrimental to children (and to adults, for that matter!) Hyperactivity, for example, has been shown to be linked to excessive, undisciplined TV viewing. At a time when so many children are labeled as ADD/ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), getting a child away from the TV and engaged in wholesome physical and intellectual activities is sure a lot better than putting him on Ritalin! Not that ADD/ADHD behavior is caused only by excessive, undisciplined TV viewing. But much of it is (in my experiences working with families, it's a lot), and to the extent that a cause and effect relationship exists between ADD/ADHD and TV, getting the kid away from the TV is certainly among the best treatments.

Intro  ::   Review

NOW TO REVIEW

1. When devising a TV management program, create an environment in which there are highly positive consequences for not watching TV. Simply telling children "No TV!" is not adequate. There has to be a highly desirable, incompatible behavior to take the place of TV viewing.
2. Put into place a system that is manageable. Make it as simple to manage as possible. Like a machine, the fewer number of moving parts, the less likely the system will break down.
3. Be precise, consistent, and disciplined when managing the system. Children will bug their parents to death to get them to weaken. Don't weaken. Be compassionate, empathetic, understanding, calm, and firm! Otherwise, you're dead in the water!
4. When children aren't watching TV, be sure to have lots and lots of positive verbal and physical interactions with them.