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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.'"
And what - happy people hang out on Slashdot??
Seven Days with Ubuntu Unity
How do video games fall into this continuum of "unhappy" to "happy"? In some respects, video games are like TV, like reading (many RPGs, visual novels), and (particularly with MMOs and live competitive games) socializing, too.
present day... present time... hahahaha...
Weird that they don't include internet usage in here. And when they say "reading newspapers," does reading online count? And is it only newspapers? What about blogs? Aggregating internet use into one category would be kind of silly, considering there are many things you can do online (play games, watch Hulu/YouTube/pirated stuff, read newspapers and blogs, socialize, do chores and get practical information, etc.), but they should have at least tried.
What channels do they watch? What shows do they watch? Do they use TiVo or do they just channel surf? There are perfectly productive, informative, and educational reasons to watch TV. There is also good entertainment and derivative formulaic uninspired drivel. Simply saying "More TV = unhappy" is very vague.
Twinstiq, game news
Watching TV makes one unhappy....as they fail to realize the addictive nature of advertising of things they really don't need, the BS of the news media and oh my.....the re-runs....
Watching TV is so very non-interactive.....
Slashdot makes for the frustrated TV watchers to release their frustrations.... which explains the generally negative attitude on the internet.
Solution.... do not get a digital TV converter box is a first step. We might just get a better internet because of it. ... sure buddy.....
How do you get one of these grants?
I would like to research, for example, whether the Pope is Catholic, or whether bears shit in the woods. Does anyone at the University of Maryland know where I can get funding, since they have so much success with similar quests.
Anyway, if you weren't unhappy to start with, watching 90% of the 2008 fall schedule on TV will make you that way pretty quickly. Writer's strike aside, this is one of the worst new seasons in the history of TV. Kath and Kim? Knightrider? Worst Week? Heroes? Are you kidding, Network Execs? You can pretty much cancel every show that debuted in 2008, on every network. You all fucked up.
The data suggest to us that the TV habit may offer short-run pleasure at the expense of long-term malaise.
Even those who aren't actively watching television tend to show negative side-effects if a TV is on in the same room. I recall this one study about background TV causing abnormal development in attention spans.
See it there, a white plume over the battle - A diamond in the ash of the ultimate combustion - My panache. --Cyrano
When I watch TV I usually become unhappy. There's almost never anything of interest on.
Stoned people also watch a lot of TV.
The stoned people I know seem pretty happy.
The important thing is to balance the TV time with video games.
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.
"unhappy people watch an estimated 20 percent more television than very happy people"
Uh, if it is only a 20% difference, perhaps unhappy people do not have anyone to socialize with during that non-television time of the very happy people. And maybe that's why they are unhappy.
That was my first thought when I read the summary. I'm happy, and I watch a good amount of TV right now... But it's all shows I actively want to see, and I watch them when I want to. (And without commercials.) In fact, I generally end up fitting TV in around everything else in my life. If there came a time when TV was what I had to fit things around, I just wouldn't watch TV. (I know, because I was there a few years ago... I actually didn't watch TV for about a year, and then I got cable with a DVR and things suddenly worked again.)
I wouldn't necessarily say 'socialization' has anything to do with it, though.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
I don't have one either. I like more control of my media experience than TV provides. I watch very occasionally at a neighbor's place.
It's interesting, though: my experience of TV is different when I do watch it. I get angrier at villains, more repulsed by violence. Part of that is obviously just not exposing myself to it as much. I wonder, though: how much it is about my general immersion in more interactive media? Usually when something happens in the spaces I spend my time in (mailing lists, facebook) I can say something about it, and change the action.
Which does change my response to things like TV, too, but in a way that's hard to sort out.
'In knowledge is power, in wisdom humility.'
Yeah, there's also never been a randomized, blinded clinical trial that shows gunshot wounds to the head cause death.
If you put a bunch of babies in a room together and don't interact with them in any way except to provide food, will they develop their own language?
There are countless studies that for ethical reasons cannot be completed.
I'm single and have no roommate. I find it soothing to have the TV or a movie on when I am home, even if I am reading or doing chores. I don't get the same effect with music. My theory is that just having some kind of conversation in the background helps me to feel less lonely when I'm by myself.
Do I consider myself "unhappy?" I suppose a little lonely at times, but who isn't?
Seriously, I don't watch a lot of TV normally but a few years ago I hit a very bad time where my anxiety disorder took over my life. There were a few times where I spent more than a week laying on my couch watching Seinfeld. I have all the episodes on my MythTV box and I would start at the beginning and watch as many episodes would fit in a day. It was an escape and got me through it.
Let me tell you, mental disorders suck. I used to think people should just get over it but I now realize it's not that simple. It's really hard to put yourself in the same position as someone else with a serious problem like this. I can't even put myself back in the place I was when I had the most severe anxiety problems. Now I can't imagine sitting on the couch watching TV day after day like that... In other words I can't even put myself back into what I was feeling back then even though I went through it!
New findings printed today in all papers and broadcast on ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 reveal that television is "virtually a mental vitamin" for intelligence and emotional well-being. In addition, it helps treat arrhythmia, psoriasis, tooth decay, distemper, dropsy, haemorrhoids and impotence, and lets you see through clothes.
The findings were revealed today by the study's funders, a consortium of commercial television broadcasters and newspaper proprietors. They have recommended that television and printed newspapers be made mandatory as a public health measure, and that the Internet be renamed "The Paedophile Channel" as a warning to possible users.
"The quick-fix nature of televisual gratification accumulates and quickly becomes permanent," said Dr Desmond Murdoch. "The artistic brilliance of thirty-second messages provides the viewer's necessary daily dose of thoughtful mental stimulation and wit.
"I met a scientist once," said Dr Murdoch. "Well, he said he was a scientist. He handed me a remarkably large cheque."
Further results from the research group are expected to include revelations that jaffa cakes, crisps and Coca-Cola are "fruit" for the purposes of achieving one's government-mandated five portions a day, and that snake oil liniment does all it is claimed to.
http://rocknerd.co.uk
This is a correlation statement.
A causation statement would be:
or
our children are hopelessly depressed.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Area Man Constantly Mentioning He Doesn't Own A Television
Sorry, couldn't resist.
--
Toro
Making people unhappy is fundamental to the business strategy of the television companies.
They pump out depressing boring shit non-stop to make people watching feel as miserable and discontented as possible. Then they show you ads for crap that promises to make you happy - and you rush out and buy it out of desperation.
The television companies would never make a cent if they made their audience feel happy and contented.
The average American watches an average of 4.5 hours of television every day, according to Nielsen. I don't know what percentage of viewers break down into the "happy" v. "unhappy" camps, but 20% of that is close to another hour of TV -- every day.
To put that in perspective, consider two things:
1) Most people spend 8 hrs/weekday at work and 8 hrs/day asleep. That's over half of the rest of one's day used for meals, grooming, chores, travel time, etc. For many people, TV is how they spend all of their free time during the week.
2) 4.5 hrs/day = 31.5 hrs/week. 20% of that is over 6 hours. That's not a trivial time investment.
Lastly, note that the above 4:35 quote is for adult men. Women watch about 40 minutes more TV per day. (The good news is that teens and children watch less.)
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
I should let this go, but there are so many things wrong with this post that I can't.
First, you are one person. Your experiences are interesting but are in no way disproof of the aggregate, average behavior of a population at large. It's nice that your life hasn't turned out the way the study predicts, but against the greater number of people looked at, your anecdotal story is not more valid than the entire study.
Second, the study does not predict a linear, mechanical mechanism by which one cannot watch X hours of TV without being Y levels of depressed. There is a correlation here. There may be an underlying cause, but nothing implies that that cause is universally true of the human population nor that all people are affected the same nor that people don't get lucky.
For example, driving while intoxicated clearly raises the likelihood you will be in an accident. However, people drive drunk without getting in accidents all the time (thanks to being lucky). If you drive home in one piece while plastered and do so regularly, that does not negate the overall truth that driving while intoxicated is risky.
Third, to follow up more on the linear relationship issue, there's nothing the study that says that if you watch too much TV you'll commit suicide.
Fourth, it might be worth pointing out that disabled people have a higher rate of depression that the population at large. Your objection about disabled people having to watch massive amounts of TV would only reinforce the numbers, assuming that the survey actually included disabled people.
I'm sorry for ranting, but this whole mindset of, "It hasn't happened to me, so these scientists are just plain wrong and stupid!" drives me absolutely bonkers. You are not the center of the universe. The rules by which it works do not center around your experiences. The plural of anecdote is not data.
Grah.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").