
Unhappy people watch TV, happy people read/socialize - alex_c
http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/unhappy-people-watch-tv-happy-people-readsocialize-17794.html
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sutro
I wonder if there's a corollary: happy hackers hack; unhappy hackers read
Hacker News.

(Goodbye, comment. I expect to see you disappear into the background under a
barrage of downmods within a matter of minutes.)

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bkbleikamp
Don't be so pessimistic :) The comment is a) an interesting point and b)
funny.

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matt1
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.

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axod
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

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LPTS
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.

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

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gaius
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.

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axod
"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.

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LPTS
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.

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tlrobinson
<http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28694>

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mamama

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LPTS
I'm that guy too. I hate TV.

Except heroes and house. Ohhh. The daily show. Colbert Report. Gotta catch
south park and sarah silverman. Six feet under was pretty good, too...

Other then that TV sucks. I watch TV shows, but have no TV. The trick is to
download your tv from the internet so you can dodge the ads concentrated power
scientifically calibrate to manipulate you, and still get a dose of culture
and electronic sedation.

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rokhayakebe
What about people who consume media online? Watching TV all day is not
different from watching Youtube videos all day.

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LPTS
"The medium is the message."

In one case, your reality is being programmed. In the other, you are
programming it.

Watching TV is different from watching youtube. "The medium is the message."

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axod
Have you found the "Select channel" button on your TV?

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LPTS
Are you aware of all the research on when exactly humans will change channels,
which describes human behavior exactly as if humans were ants? The TV
executives are.

Or do you think you're some special little butterfly whose behavior is not
predictable in the exact same way everyone else has predictable scientifically
validated patterns of responding to TV. "Select Channel" does not function
neurologically the same way youtube does. TV execs have mountains of private
data on that.

The difference is the activation in reasoning centers in the brain. When you
watch TV, your reasoning center shuts off (and thus does not guide your remote
control usage). When you use the internet to watch youtube, your reasoning
center stays on.

You seem to believe people have free will and aren't walking around completely
hypnotized behaving in almost completely predictable ways.

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axod
"Are you aware of all the research on when exactly humans will change
channels"

Firstly, modern TVs don't just have a "select channel". They have video on
demand, recording, live pause, heck some TVs can play youtube vids etc
themselves with full integrated internet capability. Perhaps you're right -
maybe some people sit down on the couch, turn on the TV, and don't know how to
select a different program to watch. That's not the norm though.

Secondly, you can't make big generalizations about peoples usage of the TV.
Different countries have vastly different quality of TV output for a start.

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LPTS
Actually I'm pretty sure that if you take away the strawman (i'm not saying
people don't change channels, I'm saying their remote usage isn't governed by
critical thinking, it's governed by easily manipulated emotions) it is the
norm, and advertising rates are determined scientifically by those data
points.

Interestingly, people who feel they aren't manipulated by the meta-reality and
it's subconscious suggestions are just as suspectible to being manipulated by
the metareality.

You can make big generalizations about people's usage of TV because they have
the same neurological responses to it, which is the reason advertising works,
and the meaning of 'the medium is the message' and the subject of a bunch of
scientific research done by corporations to manipulate you into thinking you
need axe body spray. Did you know Procter Gamble uses the same propaganda
techniques early communist china did, over the air? Politicians calculate
exactly what effects an ad will have on a specific demographic based on the
profile of the audience of the show they watch.

You give people to much credit. It large numbers, like in tv viewers, their
behavior is very hivelike.

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axod
Thank goodness for the BBC - no adverts, quality
drama,factual,news,entertainment etc :)

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LPTS
High quality circuses for you to enjoy while the british government continues
it's quest to make 1984 come a few years late and your world slides into
chaos. I didn't realize "the circuses are really good" was a defense for an
accusation that a culture centered around circuses is destructive to your
ability to act more like a person and less like a monkey.

And you are subtly programed by the people who control the BBC rather then the
american corporate interest. I fail to see a big difference.

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helveticaman
I see a difference. Just because the British government is increasing
surveillance doesn't mean it is also as monolithic as its parallel in 1984.
Watching the BBC does not preclude active citizenship. More to the point, I
doubt viewers who can appreciate the humor in Blackadder or the drama in Rome
are completely incapable of questioning things they read or hear.

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LPTS
The difference between 1984 and the way the british government would like to
do things involves technological maturity and distribution of that technology.
The intentions and thinking is the same.

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bilbo0s
I must be one of the least happy people on the planet, because I LOVE to watch
movies!

Maybe I would have discovered my unhappiness earlier if I hadn't split my side
laughing when C-Bass cornered Lloyd in that gas station bathroom stall. Or if
I hadn't gazed in humor and a twisted respect when Captain Reno declared
himself "SHOCKED!!! SHOCKED to discover there is gambling going on..." in
Rick's Cafe. Or . . . oh well, you get the picture.

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kqr2
I think "happy" people may just be busier and not have enough free time.

I think there are some good TV shows, but my todo list keeps me busy.

The real question though: Do happy people read news.ycombinator.com? :-)

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louislouis
Hang on, if you're unhappy, you're obviously not going to go out socializing
cos nobody wants to talk to a miserable face and alcohol will only amplify the
unhappiness.

When I'm unhappy I like to be on my own and ride it out, watch tv shows online
to cheer me up. So TV shows make me happy not TV makes me unhappy.

Open Question: How many hours of TV do you watch per week? I'm on around 3hrs
(Heroes, Prison Break, Entourage) but all my shows are watched online without
the silly commercials.

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scumola
That's because most of the TV shows suck nowadays. It's not that unhappy
people watch TV, TV makes people unhappy because of the crappy programming!

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MrRage
Yeah, _most_ shows suck. But there are many, many shows on lots of channels.
There are shows worth watching, though. There are some TV shows, IMO, that are
works of art, rivialing some of the great movies out there.

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LPTS
TV is evil and will turn you into a zombi...

sorry I remembered Heroes and house was on the tivo. Those shows are good. I
forgot what I was thinking. Must watch more TV. TV... Must see... No... I must
see it...

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jodrellblank
Zombies want brains, zombies eat brains. Zombies are probably quite happy, if
only you could ask them without being eaten.

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LPTS
mmm...brains...

