Unhappy People Watch More TV 193
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.'"
Video Games? (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
What about the internet? (Score:3, Insightful)
What channels? (Score:5, Insightful)
On the flip side of that coin.... (Score:4, Insightful)
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.....
Can understand (Score:4, Insightful)
When I watch TV I usually become unhappy. There's almost never anything of interest on.
Re:obligatory (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
20 percent difference? That's it? (Score:3, Insightful)
"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.
Re:Unhappy? (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:What I want to know is... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:obligatory (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:Video Games? (Score:5, Insightful)
That said you can always find a depressing person any group.
Re:Factors to Consider (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:obligatory (Score:5, Insightful)
This is a correlation statement.
A causation statement would be:
or
1 person's experience is not a valid dataset. (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:It's a marketing strategy (Score:3, Insightful)
To paraphrase Scott Adams, happy people don't need to buy stuff. The advertiser's first job is to make you unhappy with at least some aspect of your life.