A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America

by Bruce Cannon Gibney

Not only did television reach more homes more quickly than the Internet, use was very intense from the start. The degree of American preference for television appears most vividly measured as a percentage of leisure hours, because when given the choice, Americans greatly prefer TV. Data compiled in 2015 shows that TV consumed more than 50 percent of Americans’ free time, against just 13 percent for socializing and functionally 0 percent for pleasure reading (e.g., for teenagers, 8 minutes per weekend day).12 In a very serious way, from the Boomers’ childhoods onward, TV is what Americans do. Leaving aside for now the considerable body of research showing that television negatively affects childhood development, reasonable people can immediately see the problem: It’s just not healthy to spend the majority of one’s free time immobilized in front of the box.