Television addiction

Television addiction is a disorder where the subject has a compulsion to watch television. The compulsion can be extremely difficult to control in many cases. It has many parallels to other forms of addiction, such as addiction to drugs or gambling, which create an altered mental state in the subject.

Disagreements on definition

Although television viewing habits have been studied for decades, there is no commonly accepted checklist to diagnose television addiction. It is however, widely recognized as a real problem that people face.

Effects on life

Television addiction becomes a problem when a subject does not want to watch TV, but experiences an uncontrollable compulsion to start or continue watching. The subject may not accomplish tasks or goals that he or she feels are important.

Another bad effect of TV addiction is that people often feel withdrawal symptoms when they try to go for long periods without watching TV. Many viewers may feel anxious for a time as they try to adjust to living without TV's relaxing effects.

Coupled with other factors, habitual television watching, over long periods of time, has been known to cause, in some people, a lack of motivation and feelings of listlessness, depression, and anger.

People watch television more than any other activity: 3.5 hours a day is the average. For reading and other activities the figures did not go above 30 mins.

Today, many people watch constant TV, and it is becoming a serious problem, though this addiction is not as bad as others.

ee also

*Video game addiction
*Computer addiction

External links

* [http://www.turnoffyourtv.com/healtheducation/addiction/addiction.html Article by Ron Kaufman]
* [http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0005339B-A694-1CC5-B4A8809EC588EEDF Scientific American Article "No Mere Metaphor"]
* [http://www.rd.com/content/openContent.do?contentId=16131 Reader's Digest Article]