Television Addiction

Staring at the Reflection of Empty Space

For roughly sixty years television has been a part of most Americans' lives. For some, it is mainly a source of information. For others, television takes on a much more significant role. Many Americans spend hours of their daily life in front of the tube, but are the people entwined in the plot of the average sit com., or are they trapped by the clutches of perpetual, mind- numbing entertainment.

Addiction is a strong word. It is now even considered a disease. It conjures up images of a ruthless person, willing to kill for his next fix, or the angry drunk, tearing apart his family with his problem. Millions of Americans struggle with these and different types of addiction each day, and are helpless to the type of escape from reality they chose. Certainly, something as innocent at television seems to not have a kind of power over people. Scientists have criteria for classifying addiction. Those criteria include, "spending a great deal of time using the substance; using it more often than one intends; thinking about reducing use or making repeated unsuccessful efforts to reduce use; giving up important social, family, or occupational activities to use it; and reporting withdrawal symptoms when one stops using it." (Kubey p.2)

Those classifications are used for substance abuse, but also can be applied to other aspects of life, including television. The first one is spending a lot of time using something. This would definitely apply to many people. "Todays average child will spend ten years of his or her life watching television."(Cottle p.3) This is an astounding fact, and would qualify as a lot of time using something. This seems like a waste of human potential. Instead of going out and helping people or bettering themselves, they choose a lackadaisical haze. Second is using more that one intends. This falls along the lines with the first of the criteria, but also, "In Gallup polls in 1992 and 1999, two out of five adult respondents and seven out of ten teenagers said they spent too much time watching television."(Kubey) If all of these people felt they watched too much, then it would make sense that they stop or cut down, if they could. That leads into the third classi...

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...nteraction later in life. If you add the Internet to the equation then there is a recipe for never leaving ones house. The final harmful effect of too much television is what the viewer expects out of life. In television, the main values portrayed are money and love. The person without money stumbles upon a way to get money, and the lonely person finds love. Or in sit come, the world is turned upside down, but the people manage to solve all of their problems and everything is back to "normal" with in a half hour. This is not even close to how life really is, yet it is the impression blared acrossed the airwaves twenty-four hours a day. This leaves people unprepared to deal with a real problem and more willing to delve back into the world of fantasy, where things make sense to them.

Taken as a whole television has its good and bad points. For those who look to television for world events or educational programs, it is an excellent source. For those who look to television to keep them constantly entertained, there is a world of problems in store, including addiction and the blurring of the lines of reality, and the answer is not on prime time.