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IsTVReallyAddictive 13 - 04 Feb 2009 - Main.AlexHu
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I know we have touched on this in class, and that we have touched on much more that should perhaps be far more troubling, yet I keep coming back to TV. So, forgive this post for not being on the readings themselves, but it’s been on my mind. I have to wonder, is TV really destroying my ability to retain information? Is it really so simple that, as we heard growing up, television rots your brain? I have to admit that I watch a good deal of TV in a week—at least an hour a day and much more on the weekends. I eat dinner in front of the TV, and my breaks from studying tend to be curling up on the couch and watching a TIVO’d episode of House. Since TV first came up—I’ve been telling myself that I should go a week without watching it just to see what happens. But I haven’t, and when it actually comes down to it, it feels a lot harder than I would have thought. I was at first skeptical in class of the claim that TV is addictive (because, of course, I’m not addicted—the classic response). But this weekend I found that I’d gone through all my episodes of House, and ended up watching a show that just wasn’t good, and that I didn’t even like, just because I wanted to watch something. Google searches actually reveal quite a few websites on the topic, and some contain “survivor” stories of the cured. So I have to wonder, am I really addicted to television? | | | Alex, are you suggesting that daydreaming is something that "dulls the cognitive senses and brings about the evils?" It seems to me that daydreaming is not self-destructive in the way that your other examples are (TV, drug use, etc.). My understanding of daydreaming is that it allows you to explore thoughts and relax. Maybe escapism is not necessarily an "evil" but that certain types of modern escapism cause problems (memory loss, brain degradation, drug addiction, etc). An interesting investigation would be to determine why we are often tempted to use these self-destructive activities as opposed to daydreaming or mindfulness techniques (other than the easy answer that we are already addicted to the self-destructive activities).
-- LaurenRosenberg - 04 Feb 2009 | |
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Lauren, I am not saying that daydreaming necessarily "dulls the cognitive senses and brings about evils", just like I am not saying that other examples (TV, drug use, etc.) necessarily "dull the cognitive senses and bring about evils." I merely used daydreaming as an example of perhaps the "purest" form of escapism. While I will not dispute your understanding of daydreaming as allowing one to explore thoughts and relax, I would also defend TV, etc. as allowing one to explore thoughts and relax. I grouped it with the others because I believe they are more similar than different: when used "properly", they allow someone the temporary escape that they need to feel happy and sane, but when overused, they result in the problems (brain degradation, etc.) What I wish to say, basically, is that daydreaming can be just as destructive as TV if taken to its excesses. Feel free to disagree with me, but I believe that someone who is "addicted" to daydreaming may suffer the same "brain degradation" and inability to focus as someone addicted to TV and such.
-- AlexHu - 04 Feb 2009 | | | |
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