Children in Australia are spending more time with the mass media than with any other single activity, sleeping excepted. The average child spends three hours a day sitting in front of television and another couple of hours with films, radio and the press.

The considerable influence of television has been well documented. A summary statement in Children and Television, Senate Standing Committee on Education and the Arts, 1978, says:

“Clearly television has emerged as the dominant experience in the life of the average Australian child …”(4.33)