Television Addiction: Our Path to Passivity?

Thursday, August 4, 2011, 13:23

Television addiction is not always to do with children. Today, we have a whole generation of smart, upwardly mobile working professionals who have become couch potatoes because of the negative effects of television. Television addiction is not really so different from any other addiction; you can see that for yourselves. Gone are the days when we managed to play squash after work or catch with a friend for a late evening coffee. Now all we return from a grueling day of work and pounce on the remote.

T V: The Idiot Box
Have you ever wondered why we call the T V, an idiot box? Primarily because it resembles somebody's dim-witted idiotic cousin who sits in a corner and keeps blabbering. Nobody may be paying attention to it but the television is still tirelessly blabbering on. We may defend our television addiction by saying that we watch television because we have nothing else to do. But ask yourselves, isn't it the other way round; we do nothing else because we are watching T V.

Negative Effects of Television: Passivity
Television addiction encourages passivity. When you are sitting comfortably on your couch and staring at the T V your mind looses the urge to work. As a T V addict, you are happy to escape into the dramatic lives of Anandi (Balika Vadhu); Archana and Manav's (Pavitra Rishta) marriage is more important to you that your own and you are totally worked up about making your favorite contestant win the (un)reality shows you watch.

The most negative effect of television is not that it is a self-serving habit, so is reading a book. But unlike reading that prods you on to explore mentally, television addiction stagnates you by restricting your mind to whatever it is showing you. Words are the beginning of imagination and images the end of it. Until we saw Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, we were free to imagine the character anyway. But once we did, it was irreversibly final.

How Does It Affect Our Life?
Being a T V addict does take a toll on your personal and professional life. Husband and wife often don't talk to each other for weeks because they are totally consumed by their favorite television shows. When was the last time you took a stroll with your spouse in the moonlight? Prime time television shows addiction has plagued us so badly that you would probably not even remember when was the last time you admired the full moon! If you are living alone then the idiot box will make you a T V addict with the excuse of killing your loneliness. You are probably lonely because you watch too much television.

What Can We Do?
Since we are all falling prey to the negative effects of television some self discipline is called for. May be we could start by having a 'No T V Week' get rid of this unhealthy habit.