The Plug-In Drug: Television, Computers, and Family Life

How does the passive act of watching television and other electronic media-regardless of their content-affect a developing child's relationship to the real world? Focusing on this crucial question, Marie Winn takes a compelling look at television's impact on children and the family. Winn's classic study has been extensively updated to address the new media landscape, including new sections on: computers, video games, the VCR, the V-Chip and other control devices, TV programming for babies, television and physical health, and gaining control of your TV.

• ISBN10: 0142001082
• ISBN13: 9780142001080
• Publish Date: 26 March 2002
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 1 February 2010
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Penguin Books
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 352
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780142001080

Reviews

[daltonlp]

This book sat on the shelf for a while, because I assumed I already believed everything it had to say. I was wrong.

The best parts are the stories of families who have removed the TV from their house, either temporarily or permanently:

The first weekend was brutal. In the absence of television, it is very difficult to keep three children occupied from sunup to sundown. We were desperate for relief. A note I made on the first Saturday captures the ambiance of the household: "I'm so exhausted I could vomit...Toys are being scattered faster than I can pick them up."

Our children are playing together, real old-fashioned playing. The two middle children made up an entire musical entitled Dolphins in the Desert.

When the kids had nothing to do, they went out and made a secret hideout -- played there for many days.

Personally I find I can tolerate Saturday housework as a working mother a lot better when I don't see my husband loafing near the TV.

The kids really sat there for quite a while, just as if they were watching. It was pathetic. But it made us absolutely certain we'd done the right thing by chucking the set out.