Living: TV as the New Fireplace

A survey says it is just a backdrop to family life

First the good news for the television industry: Americans spend more than half of their leisure time in front of the TV set, an average of almost three hours per person each day. Now the bad news: most people do not pay much attention to the tube, treating it like visual Muzak or a cozy fireplace for the family to gather round. According to the authors of Where Does the Time Go?, a survey on leisure released last week by United Media Enterprises, television is “the new American hearth—a center for family activities, conversation and companionship.”

The study, based on telephone interviews with more than 1,000 randomly selected people in all 50 states, depicts American leisure as strikingly centered around the family and home. Only two of the top-ten spare-time pursuits, exercising or jogging and spending an evening with a friend, are frequently conducted outside the home. Television is chiefly a backdrop for other family activities. Six out of ten polled said they seldom paid close attention to the TV set while it was on. Far from creating a generation of TV zombies, the tube showed almost no ability to deflect Americans from other favorite pursuits around the house. Frequent adult watchers seem to be as home-centered as those who watch very little TV. Avid TV viewers read to their children and engage in family chats, possibly because the prime evening viewing hours coincide with time usually set aside for family activities. Concludes the report: “Television seems not to erode basic family and community concerns as much as it coexists with them.”

Reading newspapers is the second most popular leisure activity, followed by listening to music at home, talking on the phone to friends and relatives, exercising, spending an evening talking with friends, reading books, practicing a hobby, gardening and poring over magazines. Having sex ranked only 14th on the list. The pollsters turned up surprisingly traditional attitudes. Most respondents said leisure had to be earned with work, and 62% said work should have a higher priority than leisure. Only 15% admitted going to a bar or nightclub once or twice a week. Seven out of ten said hardly any of their free time is wasted, and six of ten said excess time is best spent when it focuses on goals. Said Social Scientist John Pollock, who supervised the study: “Our flinty Puritan heritage has its hooks in the present.”

Among the other findings:

> Two of ten adults, or about 33 million people, are lonely during their spare time. This group is more heavily male, older and less educated than the non-lonely.

> Fathers whose wives work spend much more time with their children than fathers who are the sole breadwinners.

> Only 54% of Americans engage in sexual activities at least once a week, and 22% say they never have sex.

> Four of the top-ten free-time activities are related to the media: reading newspapers, books and magazines, and watching television. Three-quarters of parents encourage their children to read newspapers.

Although teen-agers and singles, not unexpectedly, are interested in excitement and challenges, the overwhelming majority of Americans are homebodies who need the company of other people. Eight out of ten say family activities are the most important use of spare time, and 83% of parents say they get great satisfaction from their children. “More than anything,” says Pollock, “Americans are looking for companionship.”