Teenagers are major consumers of entertainment media, and so it is widely believed that they may be influenced by the depiction of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs on television. The following statistics indicate the importance that television plays in the lives of young people.

• 98 percent of American households have a television set.²⁹
  
  
• Nearly 87 percent of households with young people ages 2-17 years have two or more television sets.³⁰
  
  
• More than 60 percent of teenagers have television sets in their bedrooms.³¹ Young people who have sets in their bedrooms watch 21 more minutes per day than those without.³²
  
  
• Young people (ages 8-18) watch TV more than 3 hours per day.³³
  
  
• White youth (ages 8-18) watch television nearly 3 hours per day.³⁴
  
  
• Hispanic youth watch television nearly 4 hours per day.³⁵
  
  
• African-American youth watch television over 4 ½ hours per day.³⁶
  
  
• 77 percent of families have cable/pay TV.³⁷
  
  
• 78 percent of Americans consider watching TV with their children to be a family activity.³⁸
  
  
• Two-thirds of children 8 years and older say that the TV is usually on during meals.³⁹
  
  
• Teenage boys spend nearly twice as much time watching MTV as reading for pleasure.⁴⁰ Girls ages 11-19 watch MTV more than any other network.⁴¹
• Nearly 30 percent of young people (ages 10-17) say they watch shows their parents would not approve of.⁴²
  
  
• More 10- to 17-year-olds recognize the Budweiser frogs and lizards (67 percent), Joe Camel (69 percent), and "The Simpsons" (91 percent) than know the name of the Vice President of the United States (62 percent).⁴³
  
  
• Studies suggest that higher rates of television viewing are correlated with increased tobacco usage, increased alcohol intake and younger onset of sexual activity.⁴⁴
  
  
• 61 percent of young people (ages 10-17) say television does more than harm.⁴⁵

²⁹ Nielsen Media Research, 1998.

³⁰ Stranger, J.D. and Gridina, N. Media in the Home: The Fourth Annual Survey of Parents and Children. The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, 1999.

³¹ Goodstein, L. & Connelly, M. "Teen-Age Poll Finds Support For Tradition." New York Times, April 30, 1998.

³² Television in the Home: The 1997 Survey of Parents and Children. The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, 1997.

³³ Roberts, D.F., Foehr, U.G., Rideout, V.J., & Brodie, M. (1999). Kids and Media at the New Millennium. Menlo Park, CA: The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

³⁴ Roberts, D.F., Foehr, U.G., Rideout, V.J., & Brodie, M.

³⁵ Roberts, D.F., Foehr, U.G., Rideout, V.J., & Brodie, M.

³⁶ Roberts, D.F., Foehr, U.G., Rideout, V.J., & Brodie, M.

³⁷ Stanger, J. D. and Gridina, N.

³⁸ "Portrait of the American TV Household," Fact Sheet. USSB Telescope Survey. August 18, 1995.

³⁹ Jensen, E. "Study Finds TV Tops Kids' Big Diet of Media" (as cited from the "Kids & Media @ the New Millennium" study by the Kaiser Family Foundation). Los Angeles Times, November 18, 1999.

⁴⁰ Kakutani, M., "Adolescence Rules!" The New York Times, May 11, 1996.

⁴¹ Saatchi & Saatchi, SmartGirl Internette and Teenage Research Unlimited. Kidscreen, August 1998.

⁴² Stranger, J.D. and Gridina, N. Media in the Home: The Fourth Annual Survey of Parents and Children.

⁴³ Stranger, J.D. and Gridina, N. Media in the Home: The Fourth Annual Survey of Parents and Children.

⁴⁴ "Facts About Media Violence." American Medical Association, 1996.

⁴⁵ Stranger, J.D. and Gridina, N. Media in the Home: The Fourth Annual Survey of Parents and Children.