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TV Addiction
A.
In 1977, Winn argued in The Plug-in Drug that television has properties
of addiction. Researchers have been intrigued by this idea, but few have tried to study
it systematically. Anecdotal accounts and speculation comprise most of the research
on television addiction. Furthermore, similar to the alcohol and drug abuse literature,
a conceptual haze between the concepts of heavy exposure, reliance, dependence, and
addiction to television remains problematic. A clear distinction needs to be made
between these concepts to determine the difference between normal and problem
viewing.
B.
Foss and Alexander had researched on objects that contain both self-
defined heavy viewers (6 hours per day) and non-viewers. They found that many non-
viewers called television a drug or a religion and believed that it caused less
interaction with friends and family, less time spent doing more productive or healthier
things, and less critical thought. Non-viewers reported that television was simply too
seductive to have around. Heavy viewers saw addiction to television as a likely
outcome, but not for themselves. For them, it was simply a means for escape and
relaxation. People who avoid television tend to cite its addictive properties as the
reason. Non-viewers in Australia wouldn’t watch because they couldn’t “resist its
power”. They regarded it as a depressant drug that dulls the senses. Mander collected
around 2,000 anecdotal responses to television that made it sound like “a machine
that invades, controls and deadens the people who view it”. Common statements
resulted, such as “I feel hypnotized” and “I just can’t keep my eyes off it”. In talking
about their television behavior, people compared themselves to mesmerized, drugged-
out, and spaced-out vegetables. Similarly, Singer asked, “why do we turn the set on
almost automatically on awakening in the morning or on returning home from school
or work?” Singer, though, said that addiction to television is an extreme position, and
speculated that television’s magnetism can be explained by a human “orienting
reflex”. That is, we are programmed to respond to new or unexpected stimuli, and
because novel and sudden, images are key features of television, it draws our
attention. Singer said that the addictive power of television is probably to minimize
problems by putting other thoughts in your mind.
C.
In an empirical search for this seemingly pervasive psychological
phenomenon, Smith used popular literature to generate items for a measure of
television addiction. Although the resultant scale was not directly based on the DSM-
IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), it included some of the
concepts such as loss of control, time spent using, withdrawal, attempts to quit, and