Barb Brock, professor of recreation management at EWU, belongs to an elite club in America – the two percent of the population whose living rooms, dens, kitchens and bedrooms are not graced by rectangular boxes spewing forth Americana in the form of Bart Simpson, would-be survivors, old movies and the evening news. That's right, Brock has no television set in her home. And hasn't for the past 17 years.

"My husband and I just never got around to it," she says. "We got busy and never had time."

But when she discovered, about two years ago, that 40% of the average American's leisure time is spent watching television, she thought to herself, "maybe this is why people aren't volunteering in the numbers they used to, aren't using recreational facilities, or spending more time outdoors."

She also mused to herself what a difference it might make to society if just a portion of that TV time was spent on more useful and helpful activities. It might make for more quality family time. It could even have health ramifications, she reasoned, because people who volunteer, who get exercise, who participate in recreational activities are known to have higher levels of happiness than couch potatoes.

Most people have heard the data showing that 98% of the American population own a television (higher than the percentage with indoor plumbing), but Brock's curiosity caused her to delve more deeply into that statistic.

"I started wondering about the two percent who watched no TV," says Brock. "Who were these people? Did they represent some strange, introverted segment of our society? Were they recluses or anti-establishment types?" Brock decided the only way to get some answers was to conduct a survey of a small segment of people who watched very little television or none at all. She queried some magazines, and the editors at Parents, among others, were happy to print her request for people to contact her if they didn't own TVs or watched six or fewer hours a week.

"I honestly anticipated a few dozen responses if I was lucky, and planned to do some in-depth interviews over the phone."

But to her surprise, Brock received more than 500 responses, including one from a man genuinely curious about the demographics. "Are we a bunch of Lola Granola nuts? Just Normal Joes? High and holy snots?" he wondered.

Because of the heavy response, she scrapped plans for phone interviews and, armed with a $400 Northwest Institute mini-grant from the EWU Office of Grant and Research Development, devised a 22-page survey with l00 questions plus an essay section. In the process, she was helped by a number of people in coming up with questions, including EWU alumnus Michael Gurian ('85 MFA), author of The Wonder of Boys, and Mary Pipher, author of the nationally acclaimed Reviving Ophelia.

"Again," says Brock, "I expected a statistically small response from those I sent a survey; instead I got a 73.7% return. A lot of the reason why there was such a good response, I think, is because nobody had asked them these kinds of questions before."

When surveys started coming back, there were many unique replies to the questions, but some consistency as well.

To the question: "Are you missing out by not having a TV?" the most frequent response was: "What, are you kidding? It's the people who do have TVs who are missing out – on life." To the question: "What positives come out of no TV?" an often written reply was, "I now have more time to do other, more important things."

And, in response to the question: "What changes do you see in your family without TV?," a common answer was, "Our children get along better, we parents get along more, and our marriages fair better."

Of the families surveyed by Brock, 80 percent watched an hour or less a week. But they remain in touch with the news through newspapers, periodicals and listening to National Public Radio in the morning.

For some survey participants, it wasn't all that difficult to stop watching TV. Many people said they had never liked wading through all the ads and promos to watch the few things they enjoyed. So, stopping altogether just wasn't that difficult. And they hadn't replaced one screen with another. A full 84% of respondents said the computer had not taken over the role of a television in their lives, even though most of them did have computers.

So, what did people in Brock's survey do instead of watching television? Dozens of activities were cited, but the top two for adults were 1) reading and 2) conversation. They cited about an hour a day of meaningful conversation with children on average and 48 minutes of meaningful conversation with a spouse or partner. Reading also was the number one alternative for children, the second activity being fantasy play. Volunteerism was also a significant pasttime.

For those who used to watch but now don't, there was this advice on how to turn-off: Go cold turkey. The kids will adapt within two weeks, if you can handle it! And: Be patient. If you can live through 20 minutes of whining, your children will find something to do.

The results of Brock's survey were first printed in The TV Free American, the newsletter of the TV Turnoff Network, which sponsors TV-Turnoff Week across America. It also was featured in Time, Family Life, Parents, Parenting, Good Housekeeping and Family Circle magazines.

Also this spring, she and Jon Hammermeister, assistant professor of health at Eastern, are conducting a web-based survey on psychosocial characteristics of TV-free families in comparison to low-TV and high-TV viewers.

Finally, her subject matter notwithstanding, Brock was an invited guest of the NBC show, Today, in January. Has she viewed that appearance herself?

"Er, not yet," Brock admits with a smile. "I guess I really should watch it some time, shouldn't I?"

Selected statistics about TV

• Percentage of US households with at least one television: 98
• Hours per year the average American youth watches television: 1,154
• Hours per year the average American youth spends in school: 900
• Average number of hours per week that American children age 2-11 watch TV: 19 hrs, 40 minutes
• Number of violent acts the average American child sees on TV by age 18: 200,000
• Number of TV commercials seen by the average American by age 65: 2 million
• Percentage of Americans who can name The Three Stooges: 59
• Percentage of Americans who can name three Supreme Court Justices: 17

Here are some of the findings from Barb Brock's survey:

Without a TV in the home, children entertain themselves and play for long hours with fewer sibling fights. 70% of parents felt their children got along better with no TV.

One family with an Attention Deficit Disorder child reported removing TV from the home (under their pediatrician's advice) - the child blossomed and took tremendous strides in development.

Respondents come from 43 states and all walks of life, income brackets, levels of education, races, etc. Most are in their 30s, married with two children, have college degrees, earn $60,000-$80,000 per year (range: less than $20,000 to $130,000-plus), two-thirds have religious affiliations and 41% send their kids to public schools (private and home school equally divided the rest).

92% of parents say their children "never or rarely" complain about the lack of TV or pressure them to buy brand names and popular toys.

As to their children's heroes, most votes went for Mom and Dad. Others include teachers, Harry Potter, Jesus, Martin Luther King, grandparents and Michael Jordan.

80% of married couples feel their marriages are stronger due to no TV (ie; more time for meaningful conversation and cuddling).

More than 90% of families surveyed have sit-down dinners four or more times a week with 43% of those dinners taking 30 or more minutes.