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The average adult in the United States watches more than 4 hours of television per day, proving that most have both free time and a television.

https://www.statista.com/chart/15224/daily-tv-consumption-by...

The decrease in television watching is actually among the more technically literate, not illiterate; according to Nielsen, younger people are watching streaming services instead of television.

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Watching television is not free time that can be switched out for other activities. Much of the television watching happens after the kids have gone to sleep as a wind down activity. Also popular is tv before work in the background on a morning show or tv in the background while cooking or cleaning.

Trying to teach your kids how to read or reading them a story cannot happen when much of the tv is consumed.

4 hours/day of TV watching is crazy and I think this is a very generous portrayal of that time. It is certainly /possible/ for parents to adjust their schedules to spend an hour reading to kids at night (top priority imo). Treating TV as an essential activity is a new one I find quite depressing.

Parents using TV as a crutch to entertain kids is really common, and I'm eternally grateful I grew up in a home without TV. However, that was pre-modern streaming, ipads for kids, etc.

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