Family fun in front of goggle box

3:11pm Tuesday 22nd April 2008

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With Doctor Who back on British screens, the favoured activity of families across the country has made a welcome return.

Although traditionalists may scoff at the idea of quality time in front of a screen that has become the scapegoat for modern epidemics' from obesity to youth violence, the signs suggest that in our fractured society, television may be an important socio-cultural tool.

Research accompanying the Booktime literary project in 2007 revealed that 18 per cent of families share only 17 minutes together during the average day, suggesting most require all means necessary to ensure time together.

With the same report indicating that the largest single home activity for children was watching TV, it seems the so-called idiot box' may be a sensible place for most families to start.

In 2002, Dr Darrin Hodgetts from the London School of Economics suggested television was a potential "ritualistic meeting place" and emphasised that men's psychological health in particular could benefit from such group activities.

Although undeniably beneficial, pursuits such as reading and even sport seemingly become more solitary as we progress through adolescence, if engaged in at all!

Alternatively, a study by commercial think tank Future Foundation has shown that although the average household has two television sets, 80 per cent of all viewing by people under 65 is done in the company of others.

Scaremongering studies may suggest our brains are deadened by the process but it is clear that viewing can be both socially and mentally active.

Although it is apparent that television can leave us socially and culturally ostracised - as I discovered before being peer-pressured into watching The Apprentice - any activity provoking conversations across the country surely does not deserve such persistent contempt.

Whilst televisions left on in the background tarnish us environmentally and mentally, it has been argued, active engagement in television programmes can stimulate debate, even among families generally loath to communicate with one another!