TV And Happiness
I read an article today that suggested people who watch a lot of TV aren’t as happy as those who watch just a little, or none…
According to data analyzed by the University of Maryland, collected from 45 thousand people over 35 years, watching a lot of TV “might make you feel good in the short term, but is more likely to lead to overall unhappiness”.
People who referred to themselves as ‘not happy’ watched about 30% more in an average day than people who called themselves ‘very happy’. Researchers offered 2 interpretations of these findings…
“Television viewing is a pleasurable enough activity (but) with no lasting benefit, and it pushes aside time spent in other activities – ones that might be less immediately pleasurable, but that would provide long-term benefits in one’s condition. In other words, TV does cause people to be less happy”.
You could say this is the equivalent of ‘stunting your growth’. If the thought “I really should be doing something more useful” floats across your mind while you’re watching, you’re already aware of this… on some level.
The second interpretation was that “Television is a refuge for people who are already unhappy. Even the unhappiest people can click a remote and be passively entertained by TV”.
The researchers found parallels between both interpretations and addiction, as both (TV watching and feeding an addiction) offer momentary pleasure but lead to negative long-range consequences.
The findings related to couples as well as individuals. Happy couples had more sex (duh!), read more, attended more religious services and did more socializing, while unhappy couples spent far more time watching TV.
The people involved in this study recorded their daily activities over the 35 year period, as well as their levels of happiness or unhappiness each day. The aforementioned sex, reading and socializing were linked to the highest levels of happiness people experienced and recorded, while watching TV was noted to be the only activity consistently linked to their feeling unhappy.
So, there you go.
