Now it appears they've finally quantified just how harmful TV can be. According to an Australian study, for every hour someone watches TV, they take 22 minutes off their lifespan. At that rate, I probably ought to be dead by now.
Except - the same story I linked to above notes a study by the medical journal The Lancet found that as little as 15 minutes of physical activity every day could increase a person's lifespan by three years. Since I get at least twice that much exercise just walking to and from work, that means I might actually come out ahead on the deal.
There's no word, as far as I can tell, of the effects of watching television while exercising. But, one wonders, how long before they try to ban TVs from hospital rooms? TV