Review of "Television Addiction is no Mere Metaphor"

Television Addiction Is No Mere Metaphor

Have you ever heard the expression "love hurts"? Sometimes it's the things that we want most that can hurt us. In "Television Addiction Is No Mere Metaphor", an article published in Scientific American on February 23, 2002 by Robert Kubey and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, we see how this expressions meaning has some truth to it. The things that we are addicted to are not necessities but are desires instead. Kubey and Csikszentmihalyi give the best example when they state that no one has to drink alcohol yet they do and in doing so become alcoholics. Though identifying an addiction is easy when one is analyzing someone else. It's not as easy when it's happening to you.

You can be addicted to just about anything. Kubey and Csikszentmihalyi give the examples of compulsive gambling and sex obsessions. Although you wouldn't believe it, sometimes you can be addicted to something and not even know it. Take something you probably do everyday, like watching television. Most people will tell you that at some point during their day they stop what they are doing and make time to watch television. Society pokes fun at these types of people so we never like to look at ourselves as one of them.

To this day people are still studying the effects of television on people. Some will argue that watching violent television will make you act more violent. This argument has been going on for years. So what defines an addiction? Psychologists and psychiatrists formally define substance dependence as a disorder characterized by criteria that include spending a great deal of time using the substance; using it more often than one intends; thinking about reducing use or making repeated unsuccess...

... middle of paper ...

...y drug has its way of pulling you in to first use it and to continue using it. How does television do it? Well, we all seem to be fascinated by special effects. Whether it is something simple like cuts, edits, zooms, pans, sudden noises, or something a little more sophisticated like computer enhanced digital effects, it's these things that pull us in. All these little tricks have a purpose of course. Some are meant to just catch our attention, like in music videos and television commercials. Others are meant to enhance memory or to educate such as in children's programming and educational programming.

Like everything else, watching television seems to have its pros and cons. So is watching television something we should all be doing? Watching television is not necessarily something that we must not do, it's just something that we must not do in excess.