This month, social groups are urging the public to turn off their televisions for six consecutive days to seek healthier leisure activities.
"We are starting this cultural movement, which will help people to reset their thinking processes by turning off their TVs," Miaoli Community University president Chiang Ming-hsiu (江明修) said at a press conference yesterday.
The institution is one of three groups sponsoring the event, along with the Campaign for Media Reform (媒體改造學社) and Media Watch (台灣媒體觀察基金會).
The event is slated to run between April 25 and 30 and will be held simultaneously with a similar event in the US.
The movement was started in 1994 in the US by a non-profit organization known as the TV-Turnoff Network to encourage children and adults to watch less television, to promote healthier lifestyles and communities.
In Taiwan, the event began last year in Miaoli, within local communities there. This year, the movement will spread to northern and central Taiwan, where many other community colleges have signed up.
The Campaign for Media Reform takes a more aggressive stance toward watching less television.
"We encourage the public to boycott TV stations until TV media has gone through a reform process," said Chiu Chia-yi (邱家宜), an executive member of the group.
The group calls for the establishment of more public television channels and television programs, and is the key advocate pushing for the establishment of a National Communications Commission. A bill to set up the commission failed to clear the Legislative Yuan last year.
Statistics provided by the event's sponsors show that, on average, a one-year-old child spends at least one hour per day in front of the TV, whereas an 18-year-old spends more time watching TV than attending school.
Event sponsors are urging those who wish to join the movement to make five statements: to refuse to be couch potatoes, to improve familial interactions, to agree to select quality TV programs, to pursue arts and cultural activities and to get outside on trips to enjoy nature.
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