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| The article shows that two hours of television per day, for a year, causes 104 deaths per 100,000, and 260 morbidities per 100K (type 2 diabetes and other disabling conditions). Neilsen estimates that Americans watch, on average, 4.7 hours of television per day, so the numbers are 244/100K and 611/100K in the US. With a current population of 313 million, that works out to 760,000 mortalities and 1,900,000 morbidities per year due to television habits. | The article claims that two hours of television per day, for a year, causes 104 deaths per 100,000, and 260 morbidities per 100K (type 2 diabetes and other disabling conditions). Neilsen estimates that Americans watch, on average, 4.7 hours of television per day, so the numbers are 244/100K and 611/100K in the US. With a current population of 313 million, that works out to 760,000 mortalities and 1,900,000 morbidities per year due to television habits. |
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| The article does not determine a specific cause. Sedentary behavior, stress, social isolation, and bad eating habits (foods advertised on TV) may all play a role. | The article does not determine a specific cause. Sedentary behavior, stress, social isolation, and bad eating habits (foods advertised on TV) may all play a role. All these behaviors are quite likely to vary from country to country, so the Grøntved study may exaggerate effects in some countries and underestimate them in others. Note: This is '''not''' a result of "electromagnetic" effects. Electromagnetic emissions are easy to measure, and small for flat screens versus cathode ray tube televisions. The magnetic field effects of either are small compared to electric blankets and next-to-head cell phone use, and the studies for those "major" sources of electromagnetic exposure show effects that are down in the noise, difficult to differentiate from no effect at all. Studies that show big effects are cherry-picking data. Of course, so may some of the studies that Grøntved and Hu included in their paper. My own bias is based on the observation of family and friends - more TV viewing seems associated with overweight, bad health, disinformation, and poor vocational prospects. I ''hate'' seeing this destruction of people I care about. |
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| Note that while the top 10 shows kill 10,000 people a year, that is a tiny fraction of all the television watching. If viewers exercised some discipline, and only watched two or three favorite shows a week, the television death rate would plummet and the education level and economic wellbeing of the United States would skyrocket. | Note that while the top 10 shows kill 10,000 people a year, that is a tiny fraction of all the television watching. If viewers exercised some discipline, and only watched two or three favorite shows a week, the television death rate would plummet and the education level and economic wellbeing of the United States (and the world) would skyrocket. |
Death By Television
Television kills.
- Television Viewing and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease, and All-Cause Mortality: A Meta-analysis
- Anders Grøntved, Frank B. Hu
http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/305/23/2448.full.pdf+html?sid=5a5b30d5-e6f3-465b-a9ef-e21a7543ac0f
- 2011;305(23):2448-2455. doi: 10.1001/jama.2011.812
The article claims that two hours of television per day, for a year, causes 104 deaths per 100,000, and 260 morbidities per 100K (type 2 diabetes and other disabling conditions). Neilsen estimates that Americans watch, on average, 4.7 hours of television per day, so the numbers are 244/100K and 611/100K in the US. With a current population of 313 million, that works out to 760,000 mortalities and 1,900,000 morbidities per year due to television habits.
One hour of television watching, per viewer, causes 1.42E-6 deaths ( 104/100K*2*365.24 ) and 3.56E-6 ( 260/100K*2*365.24 ) morbidities .
Worldwide average television watching is estimated at 17 hours per week. With a world population estimated at 7 billion people, that extrapolates to 9 million deaths and 22 million morbidities.
The article does not determine a specific cause. Sedentary behavior, stress, social isolation, and bad eating habits (foods advertised on TV) may all play a role. All these behaviors are quite likely to vary from country to country, so the Grøntved study may exaggerate effects in some countries and underestimate them in others.
Note: This is not a result of "electromagnetic" effects. Electromagnetic emissions are easy to measure, and small for flat screens versus cathode ray tube televisions. The magnetic field effects of either are small compared to electric blankets and next-to-head cell phone use, and the studies for those "major" sources of electromagnetic exposure show effects that are down in the noise, difficult to differentiate from no effect at all. Studies that show big effects are cherry-picking data. Of course, so may some of the studies that Grøntved and Hu included in their paper. My own bias is based on the observation of family and friends - more TV viewing seems associated with overweight, bad health, disinformation, and poor vocational prospects. I hate seeing this destruction of people I care about.
Health improves with wealth and income. Wealth and income correlates with education. And people watching television have less time for education. Malcolm Gladwell estimates that a world class career skill (professional sport, concert grade musician, PHD scientist) requires an investment of 10,000 hours of training and practice. So the United States is losing as many as 147,000 world class skills a day. The average American forgoes a world class career skill every 6 years.
Do you watch television? Are you overweight? Are you undereducated? STOP NOW.
Neilsen top shows
March 12, 2012 http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/top10s/television.html
|
this show |
all shows in time slot |
||||||
show |
share |
viewers |
hrs |
death |
morb. |
viewers |
death |
morb. |
AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY |
0.107 |
18,384,000 |
1.0 |
26 |
65 |
172,000,000 |
244 |
610 |
AMERICAN IDOL-THURSDAY |
0.094 |
16,021,000 |
1.0 |
23 |
57 |
173,000,000 |
246 |
616 |
VOICE |
0.084 |
14,515,000 |
2.0 |
41 |
103 |
173,000,000 |
246 |
616 |
NCIS |
0.082 |
12,978,000 |
1.0 |
18 |
46 |
158,000,000 |
225 |
563 |
CSI |
0.075 |
11,706,000 |
1.0 |
17 |
42 |
156,000,000 |
222 |
556 |
CRIMINAL MINDS |
0.073 |
11,427,000 |
1.0 |
16 |
41 |
157,000,000 |
222 |
557 |
NCIS: LOS ANGELES |
0.073 |
11,334,000 |
1.0 |
16 |
40 |
155,000,000 |
220 |
553 |
60 MINUTES |
0.069 |
10,800,000 |
1.0 |
16 |
38 |
157,000,000 |
222 |
557 |
MISSING |
0.068 |
10,603,000 |
1.0 |
15 |
38 |
156,000,000 |
222 |
556 |
BACHELOR:AFTER FINAL ROSE(S) |
0.067 |
9,866,000 |
1.0? |
14 |
35 |
147,000,000 |
209 |
524 |
top 10 show total viewer hours |
142,149,000 |
202 |
506 |
total may differ due to rounding |
||||
all shows per week viewer hours |
10,330,000,000 |
14,700 |
36,800 |
average 33 hours per week |
||||
Note that while the top 10 shows kill 10,000 people a year, that is a tiny fraction of all the television watching. If viewers exercised some discipline, and only watched two or three favorite shows a week, the television death rate would plummet and the education level and economic wellbeing of the United States (and the world) would skyrocket.