<p>The figures are frightening: Britons currently spend an average of four hours a day watching television - that''s more than a 24-hour day per week. Television has become our national obsession: it is our main source of common experience; it affects the way we think and act and, according to psychologist and broadcaster Dr Aric Sigman, its hold over our lives is so significant that, in some families, the television has greater influence over children than parents do.</p><p>In this insightful and shockingly perceptive assessment of our nation''s relationship with the small screen, Dr Aric Sigman reveals for the first time the alarming reality of what television is actually doing to us physically, emotionally, intellectually and socially. He provides evidence as to how television contributes to the rising global obesity rate by actually slowing our metabolic rate, stunts our children''s brain development, and is responsible for over half of all rapes and murders in the industrialised w