Table 3.

Barriers to appropriate screen viewing behaviors

The TV Viewing Guideline20 is hard to follow “I think it’s nice in theory. My kids watch more than that.” “In the summer time that (the Guideline) is not a problem, but when the weather is bad, e.g., raining, then my oldest spends a lot of time in front of the TV…” “I think when XXX (the name of focus group participant) asked ‘based on what,’ you know, why is TV watching so bad?…. Why did you specifically pick TV watching or screen (viewing)?… I think there’s a whole lot more in it than just television watching. I think it needs to be more clearly defined—what about television watching needs to be limited.”

Pressures from our changing society and peers “Anything that has to do with technology is computers, like TV and video games, and they are inventing more and more things having to do with that, so it is hard to limit the time.” “Yes, they (society) pressure you; ‘You have to,’ I mean yes, we have a television and we have a VCR and DVD.” “I don’t really want him watching that, but everybody else watches. I don’t really know how to curb that.” “The culture in our society today is very different from when we all grew up, where in the morning you could say go outside and play, and I’ll call you when it’s time for lunch…. Safety issues come into play, you don’t want your kids out of your sight for a long period of time.”

Multiple siblings and family “If you have three kids and they are making lots of noise, like it’s very tempting to say to them I’m going to put Shrek on, so you can watch Shrek, or whatever.” “I find that since I’ve had my second, that he’s watching more TV just because of the fact that I’m busy with the little ones….”

Tensions between parents/partners “I would prefer not to have the TV on at all and he (my husband) likes watching it, like he likes having the noise on in the background all the time.” “As soon as my husband leaves the room and walks out, I turn the TV off because I don’t want it on.”

Poor weather “If it is raining or cold or wet or whatever, I give her maybe 2 or 2 and a half hours (of TV watching).” “I think probably in the winter they probably watch more TV than in the summer.” “My oldest, if it’s raining, she is in front of the TV for like 3 or 4 hours.”