If You're Unhappy, You Probably Watch a Lot of TV, Study Finds

I watch tv over 50 hours a week. It seems its always ON for background noise. I am not unhappy or depressed, I'm just disabled (broken back) and can't venture far. I spend way more hours on the internet than actually 'watching' tv.

You think being on the internet over 50 hrs a week is excessive? (I'd guess its closer to 80 hours a week)

I'm not doing anything but READING and RESEARCHING topics that interest me or fascinate me. Often times I'll research one thread that takes me to several different threads.

Who needs an actual BOOK or newspaper when I can find ANYTHING and EVERYTHING on the internet? I READ voraciously.
I'm up to date on national and world news, politics, history, medical and health breakthru's.


I have several support groups I started to help OTHERS which seems to be my true calling.
Being disabled I am still able to live a HAPPY and fulfilled life in front of the tv and on the internet.

I am very miserable and allow the television to put me to sleep and wake me up day in and day out.

And now I'm waiting for the "TV is evil!!!" campaigns to begin....

As anyone who has ever taken a lab course requiring field or lab research can tell you: THE FINDINGS OF CORRELATIONAL STUDIES DO NOT IMPLY CAUSATION!!!!! The findings of this study may well be incredibly accurate, but you can't say that watching more TV causes unhappiness, or that unhappiness causes people to watch more TV. All the findings show is that there is a relationship between one's reported level of happiness and one's reported amount of TV watched in a week. There's also, if the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster can be believed, a correlation between the average global temperature over the years and the number of known pirates (http://www.venganza.org/). Doesn't mean one causes the other.

My theory? The third factor at work here is mentioned in the article - community involvement. People who are active professionally and socially tend to report higher levels of happiness. They also will tend to have less time to be able to watch TV. At the other end of the spectrum, depression can make it difficult to get out of bed in the morning (or afternoon or evening, for that matter), much less be active and involved in social and work events. Ergo, more time for TV. TV can also kind of be novacain for the brain for depressed people - the distraction numbs the pain without any effort on their part. (Note: I'm NOT saying people with depression are lazy. I'm saying that TV is often a form of self-medication for an otherwise untreated, biologically-based mental illness.) But again, that doesn't mean that the TV causes depression or that not watching TV causes happiness. More likely, it's a symptom.

who can afford to do anything else for entertainment?

i read and quilt to pass time, but i do watch minimal
television. wonder if there's a correlation between
the crap on tv and how stupid people are today?
most high school seniors do not know who the
first President was. but hey...don't bother them to
learn anything...they're busy texting.

Hmmm. This article makes me wonder. People who watch the news are alot smarter too. George W. Bush watches little TV. He gets his information from God. People who don't watch the news are stupid, penniless. Who said life was to be happy?

The mind-numbing shows that pass for "quality" TV these days are enough to dumb anybody down.

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I have to say that before my back became broken, before I became disabled, back when I was working..........I had a television but it sat there collecting dust.

I've gone YEARS without watching television and it didn't bother me. I had no interest in watching anything.
I was a workaholic so therefore I had little time to watch tv and even less interest.........for years.

Now I might want to comment about SOAP OPERAS.
Those things will depress you! I haven't seen one in over 8 years but I saw where those things were going to take me..........into depression. (maybe I was headed there anyway)

Soap operas do numb the senses, distract you, entice you, seduce you into watching them. Then, you're hooked. Then you're captive to the characters, the plots, the storylines........

A psychiatrist told a friend of mine, in the deepest depths of her depression, to QUIT watching Soap Opera's! She did, she switched to Fox News. (and wonders why the depression hasn't improved all these years later)

I watch HGTV to see all the decorating and gardening shows. I'm a real HGTV addict. It keeps me occupied as it gives me ideas to do to my own home and garden. (yes even with a broken back I refuse to sit still)

Hubby likes Food Network......it motivates me to cook gourmet dishes. (sometimes it motivates him to cook gourmet dishes)

I believe WHAT you watch on television tells a lot about your happiness.

If I watch HGTV I feel I'm basking in the glory of domestic bliss.....with a penchant for a few gourmet meals now and then.

Soap opera's are ok if that's what you're into but honestly, if I started watching them today I know I'd become depressed within a month. Soaps hold you hostage, keep you glued to the tv to where you won't leave the house until after your 'show' is over. (or you TIVO it to watch later)

I'm not saying ALL soap watchers are depressed but they need to really watch out for signs of depression, obsession, life stagnation.

Maybe it isn't the fact that you're watching tv all the time, maybe its the CONTENT of the television that you are watching that is the best indicator of Happiness??????

Yes, I think it is the content of the television viewing that indicates your true level of happiness.

I don't know if people who watch TV a lot or happy or not, but one thing I know for sure is that the people who conduct these surveys are complete assholes!

What about using the internet? People use it all the time to communicate with others. Unhappy people generally don't want anything to do with communicating with others.

Its very simple you see. They just ned to send sublimuinal messages through the television to MAKE you feel happy. Problem solved. All hail the police state!

You can't use a correlational study to imply causal relationships. That's just stupid. Everyone should read this with a great deal of skepticism.

I can believe it, it is there unconditionally, tons of options and doesn't ask for anything in return. I probably watch at least 40 hours a week and I work a 9-5 job.

It's not just TV, I'd bet the farm that unhappy people spend that much time or more on the computer. The mouse simply replaces the remote control. And all these discussion forum "friendships,"? Anyone who thinks those can take the place of real, natural, in-person friendships is delusional.

I agree happy people want to get out and do things and enjoy life where as depressed people dont want to do much and sit home and lose their worries watching tv to keep their mind off their troubles. I engulf myself in the internet when I am depressed, you can be anyone you want on here, see a multitude of things, and just daydream and lose yourself and your worries. Sad but true....

Vicky Wiley, not true. Unhappy people do like to argue, have slamfests and tell people off. All of which you can do on the computer, not with the boob tube. And it probably helps some to view comments that indicate somebody, somewhere is even more miserable and combative than they.