If you play the piano for 1 hour a day for 10 years you will become a good pianist.  If you play tennis for 1 hour a day for ten years (the span of a childhood ?), you will be fit and a good tennis player.  If you draw, play chess or do maths that much you will have a well developed talent.  If you conciously enhance the childhood by that much time for ten years- what a happy child!

If you watch TV for 1 hour a day for 10 years you will have nothing to show for it.

Times that by 2 or 3, even 4 hours a day and you can see how much childhood can be stolen away.  Replaced with a virtual childhood.

So much time wasted and a habit very much entrenched.

TV and  computers have a place as baby-sitters while you get something done, as relaxation and cosying up together when you are too tired for any input, and as teachers with a window to places and ideas they would never otherwise see. 
 
But we all recognise when we are over using it and turning a help into a habit. That mildly guilty feeling of, "I really should...." It is just sooo easy to let them go on. 

A child's mind is startlingly, refreshingly original.  The thoughts a child reveals, as they discover the world, delight their mothers.  (Keep a special cookie jar, scribble down that adorable thing they said, pop it in, and save them to laugh over).

I've been at our local school for a very long time.  Longer than any of the teachers.  My favourite way to help at school has been to assist the kindergarden teacher with story writing.  The children, who are too little to read and can't write, draw a picture, then add any random letters, and that is their story.  Over time the letters mean more and more and by the end of the year they are writing the right words for their thoughts.  So cute to watch this develop, and the child's excitement as they "get it".  But over the 23 years of doing this activity with the children, more and more of their stories were about TV shows, movies and computer games and fewer and fewer told stories of childhood adventures.  Teachers recognised this and tried to encourage parents to give their child "life experiences" such as going to the beach, park, granma's, contact with animals. That is sad.

Their little minds should be free to think their own thoughts!  Not filled with stuff put there by media. 
The originality and spontaneity of children can be so smothered by these things.

Listen in on your child's conversation.  What do they talk about?  What do they think about? How much of it is gathered from mindless media? Are their expressions picked up from a cartoon which is about attitude and aggression?  Are unkind, smart, cutting comments normal conversation to your children - not because you speak that way, but from years of TV watching?  Disrespectful towards parents, materialistic desires and a buy-me-more type of thinking are normal side effects of shows and ads.  Why give yourself this to work against?  You buy the device, pay for the electricity and internet connection.  You supply the media.  So you control it.  In your home the electricity is used for your purposes. 
I know, (the producers know), how young a child develops obsessions.  Motor bikes, cars, tractors, fairies, ponies.  Keep your place as guardian of this childhood by making sure YOU approve of the input. 

Boys and computers....sigh....when they're on a game they're clean, quiet and not making a mess- so rare.  But they are getting addicted- some worse than others. It's exciting, they feel like they are accomplishing big things.  But they're not.  You try to teach them to use it as a relaxation but it  can quickly become their life.  A fake life.   After a game session they can feel quite aggressive because they have been all excited but have no release of energy.  I think it actually aggravates  that little -boy- excess- of- energy problem. In advanced cases of electric children, they don't want to do anything else.  It is disturbing to see kids at  a park gathered around a little screen choosing that pre-programmed, scripted, sedentary mind control, over running and playing and imagining- the normal activities of children.  You provide the thing that is causing the problem and you can take it away.  The aim is of course that they will soon be able to discipline themselves and use their time wisely........sigh.......

A child lying in bed at night.  You have given them a sweet bedtime, with a play, bath, stories, cuddles, prayer.  Do they hear drifting in from the front room, yelling,  fighting and swearing?  No, of course not from you, but from the TV?  How about scary music?  I'm not sure I believe in subconcious input, but I remember when we were encouraged to play to a child, in their sleep, the times tables on tape.  The theory being they would absorb, as they slept, the knowledge.  What are the sounds in your home at night? Owls, frogs croaking?  A far more common night sound for modern children is the violence and aggression of the latest thriller.

Remember that a child has strong feelings.  An adult's feelings are often dulled to some extent.  Surprise, fear, revulsion to violence are powerful feelings in a little one.  Don't let them see and hear things unfit for childhood.
My favourite, if not great, analogy for media pollution is:  You have two strawberry plants. You provide sunshine, water and fertiliser for both, in a position protected from cold.  Every so often you pour a cup of petrol on one of the plants.  It doesn't kill it outright.  It produces strawberries.  You wonder what is wrong with those strawberries.  Oh well, they are edible, I guess.  Meaning, you know you shouldn't pour petrol on the plant but it won't do much damage, will it?  And you do give it other good stuff....

My points for less, ALOT LESS media are:  time, the valuable time of a childhood; a child's own thoughts and games, thought up by themselves!; and the protecting them from harm.  

If you find your family's media intake too much, or even want to try an experiment, arrange for the thing to "Break" tomorrow.  Lose the cord, take out a component, get creative.  See the effect it has on everyone.  If the effect is devastating maybe there's a problem....

It readjusts what you all do and you all find much better, more rewarding and bonding uses for your time.  When the equipment is "fixed"  the show doesn't seem as important.

Some families limit electric entertainment to 1 hour a day.

I like to limit it to Saturdays and then fill Saturday up with alot of fun so they don't want to waste the day.

One mother I know has no TV at all but uses DVDs to control both what her children see and the time they spend.

My mother's favourite saying, in replying to the "But you can't sheild them from the real world" rationalization, was, "A rose garden is just as real as a pig pen.  Where would you rather spend your time?"   Use these wonderful technologies to enrich your home.  Gather in beautiful sounds, pictures, stories, ideas for the real childhood your little ones live in.