TELEVISION will go out of the window tonight as families go back to life before the set.

People in the Hanover area of Brighton are set to switch off the telly, sit outside and chat with their neighbours.

The turn-off has been organised by anti-TV group White Dot to encourage the renewal of community ties destroyed by too much viewing.

Nikki Gunson, 37, of Grove Street, Hanover, plans to playing games on the pavement with her daughter Siobhan, nine, and her friend Lizzy Hawley, ten.

She said: "We have got to try to get people communicating again. It's so much nicer when there is someone else outside to talk to if you are working or relaxing."

"I come from Keighley originally. The street I lived in had a pathway out the back which joined to other houses. We used to talk to our neighbours a lot and enjoy ourselves.

"In Brighton there's nothing like that. It would be really nice to know people round here better."

And Lizzy was inspired by a holiday to Spain. She said: "We all sat around and talked to the grown-ups and had fun."

The original idea of a switch-off for the night came from visits to countries where people still spend time outside in large numbers in the evening.

White Dot has named the evening 'Zocalo' the Mexican word for the town square, where families and friends socialise at night.

Organiser Paul Stones, 33, said: "We have a cafe society here in Brighton but people do not seem to get together in the places where they live.

"We watch four hours of TV a day on average. That's four hours of experience taken away from you.

"The night is not an attempt to kill TV but to encourage balancing it with other parts of your life.

"For one night people are sitting down on the street instead of indoors. Residents are willing to give it a try to see what happens."

White Dot plans further non-TV events in the coming year, including an indoor 'Zocalo' during the winter.

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