The United States prides itself in being first in a wide range of socioeconomic, scientific
, and cultural “top ten” lists. One ranking that does nothing to bolster national pride
among United States citizens, however, is the nation’s claim to watching more television
programming than any other country across the globe. In 2007, the Economist,
an international business periodical, reported that the average U.S. household spends
8 hours and 11 minutes each day viewing television programming, far surpassing the
runner-up, the typical Turkish household, which spends exactly five hours watching
the boob tube. Rounding out the top five in this inauspicious list were the sedentary
citizens of Italy, Belgium, and Japan, respectively.