It is 2AM and you are blankly staring at a rerun of "Columbo". You meant to go to bed hours ago, but
time has somehow managed to slip through your fingers. Your hand reaches for remote. It's Saturday afternoon and your best friend since kindergarten calls and asks to meet with you over coffee. She has some exciting news, and she can't wait to share it. "Wait until "Friends" is over," you reply.
Sound familiar? If so, you may be addicted to your TV. TV has some funny effects on brain. Most people are not aware of these effects. However, effects of TV on brain are similar to effects of addictive drugs. The good news is, once you become aware of these effects, you can begin to reduce TV's addictive hold.
TV=Relaxation
Everyone knows TV can be very relaxing. TV has ability to completely shut out rest of our crazy world. All world's problems vanish as you are wrapped in a cozy TV Neverland. The relaxation is almost instantaneous. The quickness of relaxation conditions you to associate TV with relaxation. As long as you are watching TV, you feel relaxed.
Unfortunately, this sense of relaxation ends as soon as TV is turned off. The cozy little Neverland disappears. You don't even get benefit of a gradual withdrawal. Poof! Neverland is gone.
With drugs, faster a drug leaves body, more addictive it is. The Scientific American researchers, Kubey and Csikszentmihalyi, who explored TV's addictive qualities, explain:
"A tranquilizer that leaves body rapidly is much more likely to cause dependence than one that leaves body slowly, precisely because user is more aware that drug's effects are wearing off. Similarly, viewers' vague learned sense that they will feel less relaxed if they stop viewing may be a significant factor in not turning set off."
After set is turned off you will feel either worse or same as you did before watching TV. If you were trying to avoid painful feelings, those feelings will surge back when you reenter real world. Worse, if you have acclimated to TV's forced relaxation by watching too much, you may become dependent on TV to relax.
TV "Grabs" and "Holds" your attention
TV shows use cinematic tricks to "grab" and "hold" viewers attention. Humans brains are hard-wired to turn their attention to things that suddenly change in environment. This is an evolutionary benefit for noticing potential threats. The body relaxes while brain gathers information. The technical term is "orienting response".
