Daniel Goleman Quotes

The average teen today spends about 35 hours a week in front of a screen of some kind: iPod, movie, TV, video. And a lot of it is good, but a lot of it's not. And so I think you've got that five hours a day of media coming into your kid's head that's creating a lot of havoc out there.

Television has changed the American child from an irresistable force to an immovable object.

My daughter thinks that only her mum is on the television. Every time she sees the screen anywhere she's like mummy! Because we don't let her watch the TV.

To me there is no more depressing sight than a five-year-old staring at a screen, unsmiling, mouse in hand. Besides whatever dreadful things this prolonged exposure to screens is doing to their brains, computer games tend to be solitary affairs, and produce little laughter.

I hate the thought of my children being glued to a screen. Children only play on computers all day because their parents let them.

When a child is watching television, he or she is not involved in play, not socializing with other individuals, and most importantly, not receiving feedback as to the actions or consequences of his or her behavior.

Today, children are watching more and more television, and are bombarded over and over with images and content that have the potential to dramatically influence their behavior.

I've conducted an experiment on my kids. Instead of denying them access to media, I've encouraged it. They read comic books, play Nintendo and watch way too much TV.

It is commonly agreed that children spend more hours per year watching television than in the classroom, and far less in actual conversation with their parents.

Every now and then, we hear parents commenting on the fearful things which motion pictures may do to the minds of children. They seem to think that a little child is full of sweetness and of light. We had the same notion until we had a chance to listen intently to the prattle of a three-year-old.

Look at this generation, with all of its electronic devices and multitasking. I will confidently predict less success than Warren, who just focused on reading.

Our attention spans have been reduced by the immediate gratification provided by smartphones and social media.

I feel like covering my children's eyes when they watch television. It's better that they spend their time doing something constructive.

Look around on your next plane trip. The iPad is the new pacifier for babies and toddlers. Younger school-aged children read stories on smartphones; older boys don't read at all, but hunch over video games. Parents and other passengers read on Kindles or skim a flotilla of email and news feeds.

When you're sitting in front of a screen, you're not using all of your senses at the same time. Nowhere than in nature do kids use their senses in such a stimulated way.

My son has been known to throw a book at the television set when he called for me to come play and I was obviously busy in the box. But I'm told that children of television performers grow up thinking that all mommies or daddies work on TV and that it's no big deal.

Hollywood has an obligation to watch what they put out there. Kids do imitate what they see - good or bad.

TV is not a baby sitter.

Is letting our children watch TV a form of child abuse? If our children grow up knowing everything about Britney Spears and nothing about nature or faith, about anything, is that not a form of child abuse?

Should kids check phones at dinner? I don't know. To me, that's a parenting choice.

The question for me was, could TV actually teach? I knew it could, because I knew 3-year-olds who sang beer commercials!

Do some research on the effects of television and your brain, and I promise you you'll have a decision to make when it comes to television, especially with what you watch.

I have a 6-year-old daughter, and we never look through magazines. But when we're on a plane, that's the one time we have screen-time and magazine-time sometimes. And I do not open a magazine with her without saying: 'Now remind me, are these real pictures?'

When I was a boy, there were three influences on children. The school, the family, and the church. Now there is a fourth---television.

Let’s get real. It does make a difference what children see on television.