Jeremy E. Sarber

This may seem like a strange subject for me to address, but it has been something I have been thinking about. I have been reading studies and statistics on our television viewing here in the United States. Those stats show that we spend on average 3 hours a day watching TV. The work-from-home folks and unemployed watch an average of 8 hours a day! That’s a lot of TV in one day.

I doubt I need to make a case for why so much of television programming is not worth our while. I doubt that I need to convince you there are better things we could do with our time. So I will not bother. But what are the short-term and long-term effects on us by watching too much TV?

Laboratory experiments have been done to study people’s reactions to TV by monitoring brain waves by the use of EEG. Those who participated in the study carried a beeper. They were signaled six to eight times a day randomly over the period of a week. When they heard the beep, they were to write down what they were doing and how they were feeling. People who were watching TV when beeped reported feeling relaxed and passive. The studies showed less mental stimulation as measured by alpha brain-wave production during viewing TV than if these participants had been reading. After the television set was turned off, this study showed the participants were still very relaxed and passive as if all energy had left them.

This suggests that TV viewing has a numbing effect, and reaction to the body is likened to that of a tranquilizer.

I would say this is an accurate (and fairly obvious) consequence of watching too much TV. Television viewing certainly does have a numbing effect. But notice what the study says next:

Drowsiness occurs, and one may even experience depression as the viewing continues. A person actually disengages from real life becoming immersed in what is being shown on the screen which, in turn, causes excessive viewing; more so than anticipated in the beginning.

Have you ever been completely immersed in a TV show or movie where you get so caught up in the fictional story that you, for a short time, lose sense of reality? Obviously, this is more likely to happen when you are sitting in a dark movie theater staring a giant screen than when you are sitting at home in your living room with constant commercial interruptions, but it can happen nonetheless. Well, imagine if you were to stare at the TV for hours upon hours. Think about how much time would be “lost” without any productive activity.

I am not suggesting we should never watch TV for leisure. I am merely stating that I understand the dangers of TV. We often watch to escape reality for awhile, so to speak, but an excessive amount of almost anything means trouble. While we sit and stare at the tube, we do nothing productive and it is, by nature, an anti-social activity. Both can be causes of depression. The slothful man is unhappy because he is slothful and because he is unhappy he tends to be slothful. It’s a vicious cycle like alcoholism. The alcoholic drinks because he is addicted to alcohol but he is also addicted because he drinks.

We should all pay attention to our television viewing habits. Perhaps we should turn off the TV and open our Bibles a bit more. Perhaps we should live our lives rather than watch someone else live theirs.