By: Amanda Newman
Date: November 2002

It is a worrisome trend; Canadian children are spending too much time watching television.

According to data retrieved and analyzed from Stats Canada, the database 'Time spent watching television per day by students', shows that the number of Canadian children spending time in front of the television has been on the rise since 1990.

Data was taken every four years starting in 1990 and ending in 1998 showing that 35 per cent of Canadian girls aged 11 watched two to three hours of television per day in 1990 and that number has jumped to 40 per cent in 1998. The statistics show the same for Canadian boys in the same age group.

The most television watched in one specific age group is by 13-year-old males and females; 44 per cent of males in this age group watched television between two and three hours a day in 1998 and 43 per cent of females did the same. This number has changed only slightly for males; in 1990 the number was the same as 1998 but was at its highest in 1994 with 46 per cent of 13-year-old males watching two to three hours of television per day.

The number has risen consecutively for females from 40 per cent in 1990 to 43 per cent in 1998. more story