1) Are they afraid to be alone with their own thoughts?

2) If it’s truly on “just for noise,” why is it always tuned to a channel they like?

Also, if there is a correlation between happiness and how much tv someone watches, I wonder if it also has something to do with the sense that ‘I should be doing something else/I’m wasting time’- and there’s a lot of other time wasters that make you feel the same way. Just my guess. It’s our perception of what we should do/not do that also influences our happiness.

When we returned to the US four years later, the spell was broken, plus after four years away, the TV content seemed more crass and the commercials sent my parents into culture shock. We’ve always had a TV, and I enjoyed growing up on PBS educational shows, but its place in our life was minimal. We read together in the evenings and played games, among many other things.

Now when I’m in a home where the TV plays constantly, it makes me a little sad. It is a poor replacement for quiet conversation, contemplation, and a mirad of engaging activities that we have the ability to be a part of here in America.

As for happiness and TV watching, when I was single I definitely watched a LOT more TV and was a lot more into what I was watching than I am now. Now I find myself spending more time planning a wedding and less time watching them on TV.

As a former TV watch-aholic, though, for me it started, in part, because I wanted to substitute the happy, entertaining, uncomplicated people I saw on my TV shows in for the sad, angry, unstable people that surrounded me in my own life (co-workers, family, post-9/11 world, etc.). I lived alone and fooled myself into thinking I was controlling what vibes got in.

Without actually having to socially contribute, though, it was never quite satisfying, and I believe it literally got to be an addiction. Is there an associated study of various types of addicts to see which one is happier? : )

More seriously, I wonder how do activities like World of Warcraft and video games compare to TV?

Someone feels superior. (Hint: It ain’t me.)

If you’re visiting friends and the TV is on, how much attention are you really paying those friends? If it’s 100%, why is the TV on at all? And if it’s less than 100%, why bother visiting? Our full, undivided attention is a gift — a gift we give to others, and a gift we give to ourselves.

There’s nothing inherently bad about TV — I’ve seen some fantastic stuff on it, like PBS’s recent “God on Trial” and the election returns this month. But I’ve also heard teen mothers complaining that there’s no money for bills and never once consider that they could maybe give up their top-tier cable package. It’s so embedded in their worlds that they cannot imagine entertaining themselves without it, at the expense of their financial security.

Me, I’m an appointment viewer. If something’s coming on that I want to see, I turn the TV on, watch it until it’s over, then turn it off. I cut my viewing back to my three favorite things to watch while I was researching and writing my first book last year, and now that I’ve finished and gotten used to that, I enjoy what I watch, but can’t stand just surfing around looking for something good. I’ve got almost 500 books on a shelves right next to my chair — I’d rather surf in there. And if I watched hours of TV a day, I doubt seriously that I would have managed to become a published author. I’d rather do more with my hours than spend them watching other people be creative.