Television Addiction

Introduction

The article "Television Addiction is more than Mere Metaphor" gauges the affect that television has on people. The writer arguments that although, a person addicted to television may not be involve in physical activities or may be less exposed to other leaning activities, still the issue is not as problematic as it is made by other analyst and researchers. Further in the article, the author has used various researches as an evidence, to clarify the arguments made in the first place. The term “TV addiction” is vague and loaded with value judgments. A psychological term “substance order” is an appropriate explanation of why people addicted more to television than any other substance. It is a disorder that forces a person to spend more time using the substance or using it excessively, or making unsuccessful attempts to minimize the use of the substance; eventually having less time to spend with family, friends, social gathering or any other physical activity.

The problem is not the Television or its viewings, the actual problem arises when people prioritize watching television over other activities and even if they try to back off they will find themselves strangely glued to the medium again. Moreover, the article provides some critical knowledge and literature concerning to the factors that influence the person to be “Television addict”. A research conducted to find the factors that influence a person to watch television concluded, that people strongly associate rest with the time spend watching television. Since the relaxation develops quickly, people are conditioned to correlate viewing television with relaxation, lack of tension and rest. Hence, the research proofs that viewing television are positively associated with relaxation and negatively associated with stress and anxiety once the television turns off. Another interesting research in the article examined that people watching TV for a prolonged period are less satisfied than people watching it for a short period. According to a research conducted by Byron Reeves, stylistic techniques (zoom, cut, edit, sudden noises) can produce instinctive responses, thereby keeping the viewer glued to the television. Producers of educational programmes criticize the excessive use of stylistic tricks as these elements overload the brain of the viewer and make them feel worn out and tiered. Television may help a person to avoid attending undesirable events, yet it hinders the person involvement in other learning and physical activities; that can be more beneficial for the person's well being (Kubey& Csikszentmihalyi, pp. 1-4).

Discussion & Analysis

In this section, we will discuss some significant studies used as an evidence to favor the author's argument. In a paper, entitled "Television Dependence, Diagnosis, and Prevention," examined a cyclical effect of watching television. Heavy TV watchers tend to be people who feel anxious or lonely and watching TV provides a break from negative thoughts or ruminations. Providing a pseudo-social media experience, the television creates a virtual connection between the watcher and other people. Subsequently, a research primarily conducted to gauge the repose of those people who call themselves TV addict concluded that the self described ...