“Television has proved that people will look at anything rather than each other” is a saying that has been printed on many images. “Ann Landers,” the pen name of a syndicated advice columnist, is usually credited.
 
This advertisement by Don Donmoyer of Sun Ray Drugs appeared in The News-Item (Shamokin, PA) on June 20, 1969:
 
“The popularity of television has established beyond a shadow of a doubt that married people today would rather look at anything rather than each other.”
 
This was listed under “Landerisms” in The Christian Science Monitor (Boston, MA) on February 6, 1970:
 
“Television has proved that people will look at anything rather than each other. The importance of television in the American home is a symptom of our national disease—boredom.”
   
     
Wikipedia: Ask Ann Landers
Ann Landers was a pen name created by Chicago Sun-Times advice columnist Ruth Crowley in 1943 and taken over by Esther Pauline “Eppie” Lederer in 1955. For 56 years, the Ask Ann Landers syndicated advice column was a regular feature in many newspapers across North America. Owing to this popularity, “Ann Landers”, though fictional, became something of a national institution and cultural icon.
   
20 June 1969, The News-Item (Shamokin, PA), pg. 8, col. 3 ad:
The popularity of television has established beyond a shadow of a doubt that married people today would rather look at anything rather than each other.
Dave Donmoyer
SUN RAY (Donmoyer is the owner of Sun Ray Drugs.—ed.)
 
6 February 1970, The Christian Science Monitor (Boston, MA), “Millions of ‘Dear Ann Landers:’ letters later” by Ann A. Hunt, pg. 10, cols. 2-3:
A few Landerisms:
(...)
Television: “Television has proved that people will look at anything rather than each other. The importance of television in the American home is a symptom of our national disease—boredom.”
   
4 June 1970, The Daily Herald (Biloxi-Gulfport, MS), “Take It From Me” by Bill Walker (Gulf Brokerage ad), pg. 6, col. 7:
Television proves that people will look at anything rather than each other.
 
27 September 1980, Muncie (IN) Star, “Talk of the Town” by Rita Winters, pg. A-12, col. 6:
ANN LANDERS once said that television proves that some people will look at anything rather than each other.
 
22 February 1981, The Times Herald (Port Huron, MI), “Potpourri” by Addie Philko, pg. 7D, col. 5:
Ann Landers said: “Television has proved people will look at anything rather than each other.”
 
Google Books
Talk-Power:
How to Speak Without Fear : a Systematic Training Program
By Natalie Rogers
New York, NY: Dodd, Mead
1982
Pg. 88:
Ann Landers once said, “Television has proved that people will look at anything rather than each other.”
 
Google Books
Winning Words:
Quotations to Uplift, Inspire, Motivate and Delight
By Allen Klein
New York, NY: Portland House
2002, ©2001
Pg. 140:
Television has proved that people will look at anything rather than each other.
Ann Landers
 
Google Books
Inspiration for a Lifetime:
Words of Wisdom, Delight, and Possibility
By Allen Klein
Berkeley, CA: Viva Editions
2010
Pg. ?:
Television has proved that people will look at anything rather than each other.
ANN LANDERS
 
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Television has proved that people will look at anything rather than each other.—Ann Landers
11:03 PM - 13 Sep 2018