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> "Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Harvard Medical School looked at the media habits of 4,142 healthy adolescents and calculated that each addit

> "Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Harvard Medical School looked at the media habits of 4,142 healthy adolescents and calculated that each additional hour of TV watched per day boosted the odds of becoming depressed by 8%." It's assumed the TV is causing the depression, whilst I'm sure it's the lack of social interaction that is causing the depression. This is ignorant generalization. Are sports fans who get together to watch the game 8% more likely to be depressed? I seriously doubt it, because they've got 2/3 friends there to spend time with. If it was mandatory for 3+ people to be in a room for a TV to activate, then this depression figure would disappear, but those socially isolated people who no longer have a TV would probably figure out how to tie a hangman's knot and eliminate themselves from any future asinine statistics.

danenania 16y ago
I think it's more that TV and Facebook and such are enablers of less than healthy behavior, not causes. The whole problem is that they DO provide a diminished dose of what healthy socializing provides and continually suppress the motivation to seek out something more substantial. It's sort of akin to snacking on junk food all day long and never eating a real meal. Sure, you can keep yourself from getting hungry, but you're not getting any actual sustenance, and in the long run you will experience feelings way more unpleasant than hunger if you keep it up. It would probably be better if those foods provided no hunger satisfaction at all. Then people could enjoy them occasionally for the taste, but wouldn't be tempted to use them as substitutes for real food. Personally, I quit Facebook a few weeks ago, and I've been much happier and more productive for it. I might go back at some point, but honestly I don't even feel the urge anymore. I'd rather just be alone when I'm alone. Get work done, sort out my thoughts, etc., and then when I feel like being with people, I'll make the effort to call around or round some people up. Overall I find myself getting more out of both kinds of experience. I've also noticed, strangely enough, that people have tended to seek me out more since I quit Facebook, I suppose since they no longer have an easier alternative for keeping up with me, and when we meet up, it feels like there's actually some catching up to do, as opposed to the feeling that you already know everything that's going on with a person because you constantly post on each others' walls and read their status updates.
jacobolus 16y ago
> socially isolated people who no longer have a TV would probably figure out how to tie a hangman's knot and eliminate themselves from any future asinine statistics. This is probably intended as a joke, but it’s really not funny, especially in the context of a discussion of DFW.

danenania 16y ago

I think it's more that TV and Facebook and such are enablers of less than healthy behavior, not causes. The whole problem is that they DO provide a diminished dose of what healthy socializing provides and continually suppress the motivation to seek out something more substantial. It's sort of akin to snacking on junk food all day long and never eating a real meal. Sure, you can keep yourself from getting hungry, but you're not getting any actual sustenance, and in the long run you will experience feelings way more unpleasant than hunger if you keep it up. It would probably be better if those foods provided no hunger satisfaction at all. Then people could enjoy them occasionally for the taste, but wouldn't be tempted to use them as substitutes for real food. Personally, I quit Facebook a few weeks ago, and I've been much happier and more productive for it. I might go back at some point, but honestly I don't even feel the urge anymore. I'd rather just be alone when I'm alone. Get work done, sort out my thoughts, etc., and then when I feel like being with people, I'll make the effort to call around or round some people up. Overall I find myself getting more out of both kinds of experience. I've also noticed, strangely enough, that people have tended to seek me out more since I quit Facebook, I suppose since they no longer have an easier alternative for keeping up with me, and when we meet up, it feels like there's actually some catching up to do, as opposed to the feeling that you already know everything that's going on with a person because you constantly post on each others' walls and read their status updates.

jacobolus 16y ago

> socially isolated people who no longer have a TV would probably figure out how to tie a hangman's knot and eliminate themselves from any future asinine statistics. This is probably intended as a joke, but it’s really not funny, especially in the context of a discussion of DFW.