Estoy de acuerdo. La tele nos engana con imagenes falsos robandonos de la vida tan preciosa. Para ser mas preciso, malgastamos aqui en EEUU casi 4.5 horas al dia. Me imagino los pasatiempos en cuales no participo debido a mirar programas. Quizas el optimista diga –Al menos que la calidad de shows es altisima!– Descupeme el sarcasmo.

Jeff

I just got back from a 3.5 week visit to downtown Seattle where we kept the windows open. So I’ve just swapped the ever-present traffic rumble and sirens for tree frogs and cicadas as my evening background noise. After getting used to them, I don’t pay them much mind — unless I’m specifically thinking about listening. I wonder if TV works the same way in many lives.

Just curious.
Kathryn

Excellent response! I love it when we get to play with ideas and find common ground. I’m glad you newcomers are adding your distinctive voices to the conversation b/c it really does promote all kinds of new thinking and possibilities.

Positive emotions generally produce positive results, so why wouldn’t watching, let’s say a comedy show like Whose Line is It Anyway? if it pumps up your pleasure and maybe you exercise appreciation of excellence while watching it boost your results in life?

I think the key bit is watching too much and too low quality shows, maybe that’s the third variable, the marionetteer behind the TV problem. Relying on TV to provide you with a life!

When it comes to how much TV is too much, Frey found that people who watch less than 30 minutes of TV per day are happier than those who watch more than 30 minutes - and the major negative impacts are for those who watch over 2.5 hours per day.

I’m not aware of research which has looked at the happiness effects of watching different types of TV content. I suspect this could be important, though - as well as the effects I describe above, the different messages received from different shows may well have an impact on wellbeing. Public service broadcasters such as the BBC should be funding this research in my opinion!

Lastly, Jeff I agree with you about junk flow. I think there’s a tendency among some researchers to regard all positive experiences as flow, so that less challenging experiences are dismissed as ‘junk flow’. I see flow as just one positive experience - meditation and relaxation are others. We all need to relax sometimes - but I think a full life would involve both challenge and relaxation - and if you’re spending 2.5 hours per day watching TV, that might crowd out opportunities for challenge.

Television doesn’t make us happy, that’s for sure. And although most people must know that, we watch anyway. Partly because of the immediate gratification, as you say, but also partly because these television producers do everything they can to keep us watching, even against our will. If that means teasing us, they’ll tease. If it means horrifying us, they’ll horrify. And if they don’t, someone else will. They’re in stiff competition for our attention.

To live a good life, each of us has to apply the self-discipline to turn the thing off more often. Good post, Rosie.

Thanks to the advances of modern technology like TiVO and DVR, I’ve found ways to optimize the little bit of pleasure I get from watching the tube. I record only the shows I like to watch, and spend about 45 minutes each night watching just those shows. I fast forward through all of the commercials (not to mention to fear-inducing local news flashes!). I’ve found this to be a guilt-free way to indulge in my favorite shows, while still leaving plenty of time in my night to read and write, cook dinner, spend time with friends, and relax.

Thanks for the great post!

Gloria

I really like that your article takes apart the argument against TV and breaks it into its various psychological components - it’s nice to see that it’s not just a general “tv is bad” but more like “here’s what tv does in particular.”