Perhaps nothing is more important and dominant in the modern Chinese family than television. According to a national investigation， Chinese adults watch an average of 4 hours of television daily. Children watch even more， especially when they are having holidays. The yspend more hours a week in front of the TV screen than in the classroom. Some even regard TV as their only faithful friends against loneliness. It is true that television can entertain and educate us. However， every sword has two blades. We must acknowledge its great effect on our families.
To the majority of Chinese families， TV becomes closely related to life so that many of them schedule their lives around it. Children rush home from school to watch TV while they do their homework. Adults watch their favorite programs while cooking meals. The family may even eat meals in front of the television. It is even considered as a babysitter to keep children quiet； and a means of reward or punishment. " No TV for you， if you don't do your homework right now！ "This is the very word you can hear in most Chinese families.
Television not only dominates family activities but also separates family because of thelack of contacts. As more and more families can afford more than one television set under on eroof， it is often found that Mother will be in the bedroom watching a TV series， Dad in the livingroom watching sport events， and the child in his or her own room watching cartoons. Even if a whole family gather together in front of the same TV set， it can hardly bring them" to gether"Different tastes of TV program leave the family fewer chances to communicate and shareopinions. For example， family outings——going out for a trip——are often limited by TV because one of the members doesn't want to miss his favorite program. As the time is devoted to TV，family ties grow weaker and weaker. Many of family problems will surely arise， from smallquarrels to broken marriages.
It is no use and foolish to blame on the television， and it is more foolish to break it down.But it is essential that our TV viewing time will be organized more wisely， so the parents areable to spend more and more time with their children playing games， talking heart by heart. It must be realized that without such communication， a family can hardly survive.
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