Reading
Sara
Could you live without TV for a week? That's what millions of people do every April and September as part of TV Turnoff Week, which is organised by anti-television groups around the world like NoTV.com and White Dot.
"Sure, TV programmes can be exciting or relaxing, especially when you're tired at the end of the day," says Rudy Matthews from NoTV.com, "but most of the time TV is just boring. We want people to turn off the TV for a week and do something more interesting instead."
You may be surprised by how much television we watch. The average American family watches TV for 6 hours and 47 minutes every day and British men watch about 27 hours a week (British women watch 'only' 24 hours). This means we spend over ten years of our lives watching TV - what a frightening thought!
Many parents are annoyed at the amount of TV advertising aimed at children and they're worried about the effect of television violence. Children in the USA watch 20,000 ads every year, and they see 40,000 murders on TV before they're 18.
Teacher Julianne Wells thinks this is a problem.
"American kids spend more time watching TV than in school, and I think that's very worrying."
TV Turnoff Week started in the USA in 1994 and it now happens twice a year in countries all over the world. More than 70 million people have turned off their TV for a week - so why don't you do the same?
1. Do you think adults in your country watch too much TV? Why?/Why not?
2. Think about children you know. How much TV do they watch? Is it too much, do you think? Who decides what they watch?
3. Would you like to live without TV for a week? Why? /Why not?