Some people are ignorant. But most of this is rationalization. TV makes a great babysitter, as does school. How many parents give their children their own TVs?
Far too many.
You know what? My youngest cousin (26) as well as her slightly older brother was raised essentially w/NO TV - in Appalachian Mtn region, not exactly a high-pop area altho they could see their friends' TV. They had cable (long before we did in a metro area!), but around 1980 cut it all out!
According to these who doth protest too much, she and he would be "rebelling", turning into druggies and alchies, and have turned into those malcontents dressed in black protesting Bush for "warmongering" while beating up opposition "protestors" - all because their parents wouldn't let them have TV like every1 else. Oh how wrongly they assume! (And you know what assuming means....)