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1) How much television should children watch?

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents should limit their children's TV viewing to one to two hours of quality programming a day.

The U.S. Department of Education, in their literature about helping your child get ready for school writes, "It's good to limit the amount to 2 hours or less a day, although you can make exceptions for special programs."
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/GetReadyForSchool/index.html

Children who watch an average of 10 hours a week or less do better in school than those who watch more than 10 hours a week. (U.S. Department of Education, 1988). A summary of 23 studies on the effects of television on student achievement in grades K-2 found that children who watch television actually do better in school than children who watch no television. But that is only true up to 10 hours a week. After that, school performance declines. (See Williams, Patricia A. et al., "The Impact of Leisure-Time Television on School Learning: A Research Synthesis" American Educational Research Journal, V19. N1 (19-50) Spring 1982.)

Mimi Spencer (in "What do Parents Need to Know about Children's Television Viewing," published in the ERIC Clearinghouse) reports that excessive viewing (more than 4 hours a day) interferes with growth of language skills and creativity and interferes with school achievement.

The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that excessive viewing is linked to obesity in children. The Children's Television Resource and Education Center reports that the children watching 4 hours of TV a day are four times mas likely to have high cholesterol as those watching less than 2 hours. The center also says that the probability of adolescents become obese increases by 2 percent for every hour of television they watch. Why is this different for public television?

Ernest L. Boyer in his seminal work, Ready To Learn: A mandate for the nation (Princeton, N.J.: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 1991) surveyed teachers across the country to assess their views on children's school readiness. Teachers report that children who watch more than 2 hours a day were more aggressive, more anxious and had greater problems maintaining concentration (p. 81).

In their survey of children, the Yankelvich research firm (Yankelvich Youth Monitor, "Kids and Television in the Nineties" CPB Research Notes, No. 64, November 1993) discovered that fewer "heavy viewers" (more than 4 hours a day) reported doing after-school activities (e.g, homework, playing outside, chores, after school clubs and reading) than all kids. Lighter viewers (one hour or less) than reported doing more of these activities.