Product Description

The figures are frightening: Britons currently spend an average of four hours a day watching television - that's more than a 24-hour day per week. Television has become our national obsession: it is our main source of common experience; it affects the way we think and act and, according to psychologist and broadcaster Dr Aric Sigman, its hold over our lives is so significant that, in some families, the television has greater influence over children than parents do. In this insightful and shockingly perceptive assessment of our nation's relationship with the small screen, Dr Aric Sigman reveals for the first time the alarming reality of what television is actually doing to us physically, emotionally, intellectually and socially. He provides evidence as to how television contributes to the rising global obesity rate by actually slowing our metabolic rate, stunts our children's brain development, and is responsible for over half of all rapes and murders in the industrialised world. Yet "Remotely Controlled" is much more than an indictment of the dangers of watching television. Sigman aims to draw our awareness to the glaring imbalance in our lives and show us how we can re-establish control away from the remote control. This book is a compelling read which will cause us all to take a step back and reassess our viewing habits.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38855 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Independent on Sunday 5* review
"Compelling. Sigman might inspire his own brand of TV dementia: sets thrown wildly from ... windows, Aerosmith-style, while whole neighbourhoods applaud."

Publishing News, Personal Choice
"... the damage done to children, is forcefully pointed out. I found Sigman's critique most welcome."

The Bookseller
"This is a book after my own heart, and every press should do a feature on it"

Customer Reviews

A devastating exposé of television's malignancy
Every child's mind is trying to connect up with reality to get its innate needs met. This brilliant book shows what happens when television watching gets in the way of the natural developmental processes designed to ensure we develop well. It describes all the medical and psychological research that demonstrates how, by capturing children's attention mechanism, inhibiting their critical faculties and conditioning them with useless expectations, TV addiction is mindlessly destroying cultures all around the world. The effects are no less grim when adults watch more than an hour of TV a day – depression, anxiety disorders, obesity, attention disorders and the rise in crime and violence are all linked to the introduction of TV. It literally damages the brain, but, like all addicts, we are largely unaware of the true situation and probably will remain so until it is too late. And, as with the drugs industry, powerful vested interests, such as the BBC, try to hide the truth of what is happening in almost every home in the land. (This book is a revelation, too, about corruption in the media and the lack of respect TV producers have for viewers.)
If you care about mental health, turn off the TV and read this book. Then tell anyone you care about to read it, especially if they have children.

Excellent and life changing discourse on t.v. viewing
I have a two and half year old Son and was drawn to read this book, as I have also two other children twenty years older who were raised when childrens' t.v. did not really exist.
Everyone, should read this book, it is both fascinating and compelling and I challenge anyone who reads it not to find it changes how they see that box that sits in the corner of all our sitting rooms, (and more to the point in our bedrooms and our childrens bedrooms!).The book is extremely easy to read and the facts and research referred to give information that is simply 'jaw-dropping'.
When I finished this book I stopped my son viewing any t.v. at all. He was two and a quarter and not speaking at all, for which we were concerned. Within two weeks he suddenly started talking. You might say this was a happy coincidence, but I urge you to read this book and judge for yourself. Incidentally I lent this book to my 25 year old daughter who has two sons. She rang me having finished it and said 'Mum I wish I had a £1000 to spare, I would buy as many copies of this book as I can and leave it everywhere for people to read'.

Eye opening
I have a seven month old son, and have not allowed him to be in the room when the television is turned on. At a few weeks old in particular I noticed how when the television was turned on, he would become mesmerised and begin ignoring everything else. But I would try to snatch opportunities to view whilst he was asleep. Since I started reading this book, my television viewing has been slashed, and now on completion, I have become more aware of the effects TV is having whilst watching - physiological as well as psychological. For example, in a drama I was watching yesterday, a person was standing at a cliff edge about to jump off and I noticed my own palms becoming sweaty.

This book systematically goes through the evidence and Sigman draws clear conclusions. The tone is balanced and therefore avoids sounding patronising. And its also very easy reading.

This book really is life-changing. As a reviewer below suggested, 'turn off the TV and read this book. Then tell anyone you care about to read it, especially if they have children'!