Hacker News Reader

Comment by matt1 | Hacker News Reader

In the first paragraph the author suggest correlation:

"A new study by sociologists at the University of Maryland concludes that unhappy people watch more TV, while people who describe themselves as very happy spend more time reading and socializing."

But in the next paragraph makes the cause -> effect leap:

"Analyzing 30-years worth of national data from time-use studies and a continuing series of social attitude surveys, the Maryland researchers report that spending time watching television may contribute to viewers' happiness in the moment, with less positive effects in the long run."

I'm not sure what the actual study says, but in my experience it's very much a correlation: unhappy people watch large amounts of TV to escape reality.

View on HN

Unhappy people also turn to drink. That doesn't mean we should all stop drinking.

Everything in moderation. Also I think we should quantify this... "US TV" is in no way related to say "UK TV". Just look at something like question time/newsnight/top gear/etc etc

I think you need brain scans to validate your claim about us and uk tv. I think those scans will show that the brain responds the same to uk and us tv.

For a start, I'd say it makes a big difference if the channel is funded by advertising, or by the viewers.

I dont think so. The BBC advertises just as much as any other channel; it just only advertises its own stuff rather than washing powder or whatever, so you don't notice as much. You can't tell me it makes a difference whether someone's watching Eastenders or Coronation Street to brain scans.

"The BBC advertises just as much as any other channel; it just only advertises its own stuff rather than washing powder or whatever, so you don't notice as much."

Sorry, but that makes absolutely no sense. Putting occasional information on upcoming programs in the same bucket as washing powder ads every 10 minutes is a bit of a stretch.

It also uses the same propaganda techniques as communist china or procter and gamble to sell people it's worldview. Not just in ads, the programs themselves are propaganda for a certain way of being and acting in the world. True, the bbc is using it's hold on your people's monkey brain to program people with a slightly elitist, more educated (to the extent an 11th grade reading level is better then the 5th grade one in the US), hiply cynical reality.

People don't understand how much or deeply their reality is created by the reality created for them that they watch for hours at a time. I don't care if your reality is programmed by whorish ads in the US or high quality satire in the UK. The point is that entering a vulnerable semihypnotic neurological state and giving control of your brain to some other people is what does the damage. It's not just the content of the electronic magic that causes you to enter that vulnerable state. It's a feature of the medium. Britan is less malevolent then the US to it's TV viewers, because what it does to it's hypnotized masses is healthier for them. People are still being brainwashed in the same way, which is a feature of the medium.

No, nor does it mean that everyone should stop watching TV.

Just too much TV or too much drinking is usually a symptom of some larger personal issue.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com