Not only is TV not endangered, but it also has a unifying social
impact on the nuclear family across the country. This is the
main conclusion of a cross-Canada study—Are the Kids All
Right?—on the television viewing habits of families with at
least one child aged between 9 and 12 years. The study was
conducted by a team of researchers led by André H. Caron,
professor of communications at Université de Montréal and
Director of the Centre for Youth and Media Studies (CYMS).
"Young Canadians today live in a different world than that
experienced by previous generations. In this context, many well-
placed observers have predicted the impending death of
television," says Dr. Caron. "We wanted to test the veracity of
this statement, so we set out to meet 80 different families
(over 200 participants) to determine the current place of the
small screen that has shaped so many childhoods since its
creation." Presentation of the study The study was conducted
over three years in two phases. In the first phase, more than 50