Are You Addicted to Television?

bydigitalwisdo

1.5K followers

Updated 6 years ago

It is 2AM and you are blankly staring at a rerun of "Columbo". You suggested to go to bed hours ago, however the time has somehow managed to slip through your fingers. Your hand grabs the remote....

It's Saturday afternoon and your best friend considering that kindergarten calls and asks to consult with you over coffee. She has some interesting news, and she can't wait to share it. "Wait up until "Friends" is over," you reply.

Familiar? You might be addicted to your TV if so. TV has some funny results on the brain. Many people are not aware of these impacts. Nevertheless, the impacts of TELEVISION on the brain resemble the impacts of addicting drugs. Fortunately is, as soon as you end up being mindful of these effects, you can begin to reduce TV's addictive hold.

TV = Relaxation

All the world's issues vanish as you are covered in a comfortable TELEVISION Neverland. The quickness of the relaxation conditions you to associate TELEVISION with relaxation. As long as you are watching TELEVISION, you feel relaxed.

Sadly, this sense of relaxation ends as soon as the TV is turned off. The comfortable little Neverland disappears. You don't even get the benefit of a steady withdrawal. Poof! Neverland is gone.

With drugs, the much faster a drug leaves the body, the more addicting it is. The Scientific American scientists, Kubey and Csikszentmihalyi, who checked out TELEVISION's addictive qualities, explain:

" A tranquilizer that leaves the body quickly is a lot more most likely to trigger dependence than one that leaves the body gradually, specifically due to the fact that the user is more conscious that the drug's results are wearing off. Audiences' vague found out sense that they will feel less unwinded if they stop seeing may be a considerable aspect in not turning the set off."

After the set is shut off you will feel either worse or the same as you did before watching TELEVISION. If you were trying to avoid uncomfortable sensations, those sensations will rise back when you reenter the real world. Worse, if you have actually adapted to TV's forced relaxation by viewing excessive, you may end up being based on the TELEVISION to unwind.

TV "Grabs" and "Holds" your attention

TV programs use cinematic techniques to "get" and "hold" the audiences attention. People brains are hard-wired to turn their attention to things that suddenly alter in the environment. This is an evolutionary advantage for observing prospective dangers. The body relaxes while the brain gathers info. The technical term is the "orienting action".

Abrupt modifications is volume, cuts, zooms, scene changes, or sudden motions on the TELEVISION cause you to take a look at the TV. Repeated changes have the impact of "holding" your attention. Commercials, action films, and video are well-known for including large numbers of these sudden modifications that "grab" and "hold" your attention.

Evaluate it on your own

Enjoy your very own actions the next time you watch TELEVISION. For an enjoyable experiment, switch on a TELEVISION in a space loaded with people to see how the orienting reaction works. It is quite amazing to see, if you can keep from getting absorbed. The next time the TV is playing see the number of cuts, zooms, loud noises, and scene modifications you can count.

What are the significant symptoms of TV addiction?

You want to watch less, however find it tough to turn off the TV.

You attempted in the past to limit your TV seeing-- but stopped working.

You feel distressed when the TV is not on.

You consider TELEVISION when you are not enjoying it.

TELEVISION changes other meaningful activities, like spending time with family and friends.

Tv has become so common in our society that it may be tough to recognize a TV addiction. When everybody at the workplace is going over the current episode of "Desperate Wives", it may be tough to see that an unhealthy addiction is at work.

The Media * Addicted * Generation

The latest research study by Kaiser foundation suggests that the next generation is currently addicted to TELEVISION. The research study found that kids, age 8-18, still enjoy about 4 hours of TV per day. On top of TELEVISION, they spend a couple hours playing with computer game and computer systems. The grand total for kids was 6 hours 20 minutes daily. The study prevents the "A" word, however how else would you describe a generation who watches a lot TV, videos, and video games that they are identified the "M" (Media) Generation?

Sources:

Television Addiction Is No Mere Metaphor by Robert Kubey and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (www.sciammind.com).

Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-olds Kaiser Family Foundation Report (www.kff.org).

After the set is turned off you will feel either worse or the same as you did before enjoying TELEVISION. Worse, if you have acclimated to TELEVISION's forced relaxation by viewing too much, you might become reliant on the TELEVISION to unwind.

Sudden modifications is volume, cuts, zooms, scene changes, or sudden motions on the TELEVISION cause you to look at the TV. Watch your own responses the next time you view TELEVISION.

"Just Go!" Don't Stop.