Slashdot Mirror
Unhappy People Watch More TV
Hugh Pickens writes "A new study by sociologists at the University of Maryland concludes that unhappy people watch more TV, while people who describe themselves as 'very happy' spend more time reading and socializing. 'TV doesn't really seem to satisfy people over the long haul the way that social involvement or reading a newspaper does,' says researcher John P. Robinson. 'It's more passive and may provide escape — especially when the news is as depressing as the economy itself. The data suggest to us that the TV habit may offer short-run pleasure at the expense of long-term malaise.' Unhappy people also liked their TV more: 'What viewers seem to be saying is that while TV in general is a waste of time and not particularly enjoyable, "the shows I saw tonight were pretty good."' The researchers analyzed two sets of data spanning nearly 30 years (PDF), gathered from nearly 30,000 adults, and found that unhappy people watch an estimated 20 percent more television than very happy people, after taking into account their education, income, age, and marital status — as well as other demographic predictors of both viewing and happiness. 'TV can become a kind of opiate in a way. It's habitual, and tuning in can be an easy way of tuning out.'"
obligatory correlation is not causation post.
Many studies, such as this one, are well aware of the 'defect'. The point isn't to show causation always, proving correlation can be a very valuable result in a study, it helps us understand structure of data and generates hypotheses for future studies. And for the record, there has never been a randomized, blinded, clinical trial that shows smoking causes cancer.
And what - happy people hang out on Slashdot??
My guess is they are happier than people who spend the same amount of time watching TV. Slashdot built its popularity on its comments section and hence its utility as a social outlet.
But, speaking from experience, if one were to rub the worst half hour sitcom from one's daily tv viewing and substitute that for an equivalent amount of time getting aerobic exercise such as riding a bike, rowing, stair stepping, treadmilling, jogging, or using an elliptical trainer, one's happiness would take a quantum leap in the positive direction. If one coupled that with a complete elimination of food coloring and corn syrup and other sweeteners, then one would enjoy yet another boost in happiness. Switching to a diet where one gets 80% of one's calories from fruit, vegetables, and legumes would yield yet another jump. Of course the increase in sex that accompanied a newfound healthy appearance might possibly put one over the top in the happiness category.
Just callin' it like I see it.
I think the over all point is unhappy people want something passive like to just lay there and zone out. So activities that involve doing something (ie video games and even participating in an online community) probably don't count.
That said you can always find a depressing person any group.
This is a correlation statement.
A causation statement would be:
or