Lighting Their Fires: I Can See for Miles and Miles

According to most experts, kids spend about seven hours a day watching television or looking at a computer screen.  Research has discovered that 70 percent of kids today have a television in their bedroom and that these kids score between seven to nine points lower on standardized language and math tests than children who do not.  There is also a direct correlation between increased television viewing and the decreasing percentage of kids who graduate from college.  The frightening statistics march on.  More than half of American homes have a television on even when no one is watching!  This research has also concluded that television's damaging effects cut across socioeconomic lines, meaning that children from wealthy families suffer just as much as children who are poor.  Television is an equal opportunity denier.

I don't need to add anything to this quote from Lighting Their Fires.  Read it again, and a third time to digest every part of it.  I know it applies to me and my family - our TV, tablet, and computer habits.  I also know it applies to most, if not all, of my students.

For good measure, read that quote one more time before moving on - and this time try to think of any solutions you can to improve the situation in your house.