Television Addiction

[ashockley55]

Am I addicted to television because I have ADD, or do I have ADD because I’m addicted to television.

I haven’t had a chance to catch the new video, ADD and Mastering It, but I heard from looking around here a few tidbits on it. Namely, that one of the tips was to limit the amount of time you watch television.

Huh. Yeah.

I am definitely in the most critical phase of television addiction , as described here (scroll down to the chart once the page loads): http://www.turnoffyourtv.com/healtheducation/addiction/addiction.html

I feel irritated, lost, restless when the television isn’t on. I still feel that way even if the television is on, but just a little more settled.

If I’m home, the television is on. I fall asleep to it, wake up to it. It provides white noise, it makes me feel like I’m not completely alone. It helps me not be alone with my own thoughts, which are LOUD, repetitive, repetitive, repetitive, mulling, ruminating, repetitive, LOUD and LOUDER with the television off, repetitive.

Did I say repetitive?

I have the television in my bedroom, and, in addition to the problems with procrastination and motivation that ADD bring, I find that wanting to be in the room with the television keeps me from getting up and getting things done. Sometimes I feel like if I had a television in every room I would be more likely to get things done.

As it is, I spend most of my time in my bedroom, channel surfing, or just leaving it on to keep me company while I doodle around online (another addiction).

Sometimes, if I get a really good book, I can escape both the television and internet addictions for a while (a few days).

I guess I need to get more good books.

And something to do.

Other than watch television.

But those things are hard.

Television is so easy.

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[wawabyjohnah]

I agree- television is so easy. And I know if I sit down in front of it, I’ll be there for hours. The link you posted has a list of what tv does to you and most resonate with me-

“I feel hypnotized when I watch television.”

“Television sucks my energy.”

“I feel like a vegetable when I’m stuck there at the tube.”

“Television spaces me out.”

“I feel mesmerized by it.”

“If a television is on, I just can’t keep my eyes off it.”

I can spend hours wasting my life away in front of the television, and also on the internet. I sometimes wish I didn’t have a tv or computer, but like that is ever going to happen. I went out with a guy once who never watched tv, so I went months with very little tv and I didn’t die, so it can’t be that hard to break the addiction, right?

Johnah

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[kc5jck]

I know what you mean. For me, it’s like in the ADD and Loving it video where Patrick is in the hardware store buying screen for a window, glances at the tv, and can’t tear himself away. (And also like the part just before where Patrick is appearing to hold a conversation with Rick and his mind is going all over the place with an occasional comment to Rick who thinks Patrick is intently paying attention. Who doesn’t do that?)

Anyway ADD is causing your TV addiction . . . and the TV is probably making it worse in the sense that you watch the tv when you should be doing something else.

You might try doing this at night. Turn off everything and pretend your electricity is off. (Like the last time you forgot to pay the bill.) Then you’ll have to find something else to do like:

read by candlelight

soak in the bathtub

open the window and listen to the sounds outside

spend quality time with the cat

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[ipsofacto]

I’ve always had a problem with the ad breaks on TV. Moving to the US from the UK was a test of of my TV ad endurance (re quality as well as quantity) and eventually I watched very little TV.

I like documentaries and investigative reporting, but in the US these shows are especially torturous for me with the recap segment after each of the several ad breaks. Many one hour shows only have about twenty minutes of content. PBS is good, though still sometimes a bit long winded.

Then along came Netflix. Fortunately over the course of two years. I’ve watched just about everything I like on Netflix and can take a break from it now to get on with life.

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[Scattybird]

Hi ashockley – good to hear from you. I used to have my TV on all the time because it was just some company I suppose. But I’d just ‘do a Patrick’ as kc described.

Last August the analogue signal was switched off in the UK and I’d procrastinated about getting a digital TV. So, suddenly one day I had no TV – just a snowy screen. I watched that in disbelief for a while but no, they’d switched off the signal (they had given plenty of warning, but the ADD kicked in and it didn’t register as a reality).

My house is a wreck at the moment so I thought I’d wait a few weeks until I’d done the renovations before getting my new TV. No point if it might get damaged/dusty or whatever.

That was last August – renovations are still not done and still no TV. I thought that the incentive of a new TV might motivate me to get on with it..but no!

I can honestly say I thought I’d go stir crazy but I haven’t. I don’t miss it at all. If anything, my sanity has improved. I do watch DVDs on the computer and I enjoy a good film….and I play on the internet more….but I am not constantly bombarded with c**p all evening now.

Ipsofacto – UK TV is going the same way. They now give a summary of the programme after every ad break. I thought it was dumbing down in action, but someone said because people channel hop they have to do the recap for those joining the programme. It is screamingly awful!

Also, I am not bombarded by negative soaps (they’re not uplifting in the UK at all – if there’s not family conflict, incest, murder or some tragedy then it’s not a UK soap) and I am also not bombarded by constant news programmes. That’s good because I find the state of the world and what we are doing to it and to each other depressing.

So I give a big thumbs up for not having a TV. I never had enough self control to switch it off once it was on, and I’d always switch it on when I ate dinner, so then on it stayed.

TV is a waste of one’s life unless you can limit it. On saying that, if circumstances changed and I wasn’t able to be active then I would definately want one for the company! It’s a double edged sword.

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[Robbo]

Good idea for a thread. I wrote a big long blog of a reply, just enough to see how difficult it is to decide what to do. N left it sitting on my desktop. It’s good to just leave the TV off for a few days. Nice n quiet. There’s tons of other things I want to do with my time.

All those commercials and news about the world falling apart. I’m really thinking hard about giving up my basic cable. It’s not that much entertainment anyway. Not worth what I pay. Fortunately I’m not home that much any more these days. This thread is a good nudge in the right direction for me.

The stuff on TV is the same crap over and over when I really think about it. If I can start watching PBS on the Internet I won’t have any reason to keep cable TV.

thanks

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[Scattybird]

You’re right about the repeats Robbo. I look at the TV viewing lists sometimes to see what I’m missing. I can honestly say that 95% or more of the programmes are repeats. I have seen them all!! Since most are rubbish why would I want to see them again! The only original stuff is sport and even then they focus on football (soccer) instead of the interesting sports

– or the rest is such total dross that……well….the least said….

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[ipsofacto]

Scattybird, if you think sitting through a soccer match on TV is hard, you should try watching American football, or even worse – baseball. They spend most of the time wandering around with no action going on, or waiting for player changes. I’ve been offered free tickets to games many times, but it’s something I only needed to experience once.

As for TV ads, In this shrinking world there are so many things in the US and the UK where it’s more a case of “a receding tide lowers all boats”.

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[Scattybird]

Oh dear….ipsofacto – baseball sounds like cricket but with the wrong shaped bat and no cucumber sandwiches or calm but droll commentary! I feel your pain.

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[Robbo]

Baseball games are an excellent background sound for taking a nap on the couch!, but golf is better. You can turn up the sound a lil and it sounds like they’re trying to be quiet cuz we’re taking a nap. The ideal golf background napping sound is when it’s near the water and you can hear birds, waves, and wind. Hmm. I guess my TV is not such a totally useless idiot box after all.

That’s great Ipsofacto

<< “a receding tide lowers all boats”>>

Sometimes I wonder if watching tv could actually be one of the smaller less provable causes of ADHD. Or at least ADHD symptoms? So yeah ashockly55, I’m thinking yes on both ?’s. Maybe TV even has a snowball effect on ADDers. Watch the tube too much, symptoms get worse, on and on… doh!. All the commercials probably have a dumbing down affect on the masses. Like Ipsofacto’s lowering tide thing.

We’re creative enough to come up with lot’s of new ways to defeat loneliness. Music is a great coping tool, I just get burned out on music once in a while. More and more lately, I’m fighting my way past the difficult levels of new friendships where they usually end. I’ve been pretty far outside of my comfort zone in social situations a lot the last couple months. Dealing with the loneliness part of ADHD that some of us go through could be one of the hardest changes we face. It’s rough feeling like I’m just now learning the social skills most people learn when they’re in junior high school. But heck, I was the freaky, quiet, n shy kid for a lot of those years. I just never really finished growing out of it, I never understood myself fully, so I didn’t know how to act. It’s sooo hard to not just give up and stay home, nice n safe where I don’t have to learn how to just “hang out” with normal people, I just don’t understand a lot of the changes I’m going through, it’s all new territory. Maybe it’s entertainment in general, not just TV we get addiction tendencies with. All the things we do to escape our feelings, and people. Heck, I just don’t know sometimes. I’ve left behind so many unhealthy coping skills. One thing I know for sure, TV has gotten much worse. The Internet and technology, social networking sites, and posting/reading here, instead of just talking to people in person is a big part of why I feel disconnected with humanity. People don’t just hang out and talk in person with me at this point in my life, so many of those kinds of relationships have just fizzled out for so many years, n all of a sudden I’m 47 and my memory is not getting better as much as I want to think it is.

I’ve written and re-written this post endlessly for about 3 hours… I’m facing the fact that my entertainment and technology gluttony has stolen a whole lot of my life. That’s not fun to realize. I sure ain’t giving up now, that’s for sure!

I think they said August for the new video’s, I’m looking foreword to em. Then we can all get cured, go lead normal, productive, calm, cool, and well adjusted lives!, huh?. Yeah right!!!! lol.

I know they will helps lot’s at least I’m expecting more ideas about the hard work we all have to face that has to do with accepting that we’re different, but changing the way we cope with it. Having coping tools that work better than lot’s of the stuff we’ve tried to make work for so many years.

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[Anonymous]

TV addiction???? Sometimes I have to restrain myself from making certain comments…….sit… take some time… or just walk away for a few days, but TV is a pet peeve of mine…..so here goes……

TV is addictive……enticing…..seductive….but it is so, for many people, from many walks of life, it is not ADD specific by any means. There are millions of dollars spent by “Media Moguls” all directed at how to entice and manipulate people into watching TV. If you fall into that category here is a little food for thought…………..

Fact…. we all have a finite number of heartbeats…..a finite number of days….and opportunity to experience the world and this thing we call our life. I believe, the rich part of all of our experience/life is in the “DOING” the active participation that stimulates our senses, and makes for a full and rich life. So it really amazes me that people will sit and stare at an electronic device that displays sounds and images to supposedly emulate some fictional portrayal of a real life experience. Even more deadly is that 20 minutes of every hour spent staring at this electronic device whose sole purpose is outright mind manipulation….the very reason that the little stories are told!!!!! Advertising…..subliminal seduction…..lies, and manipulation, crafted by top Psychologists, Marketers based on batteries of tests run on a multitude of demographics (test groups)…all with the intent on separating the viewer from their wealth and having them line up with the Moguls monetary/political needs!!!! That brings us to the second, ancillary purpose which is for propaganda and the deceptive management of the populous.

ALL…….news broadcasts are just that……nothing more….the media are owned (all media) by the largest/wealthiest (3 or 4) families all over the world and are design to advance their power and for quest for power and the accumulation of wealth. Every TV show news broadcast is scrutinized for content and message and it better damn well match up to their mission or else!!!!! For instance… just check out Dan Rather……….and why he got fired for breaking the story of GW Bush deserting the Army for one year…….a serious crime for which he has never been charged or tried…instead he was made President!!!! True…..not a fable!!!!!

So why do people do it….waste a life staring at the box….simple….. the more you stare at the box, the more lethargic you become….the more effective the seduction plan is and the seductive messages effect….. and the more is craved. It is not for me to tell anybody how to live or what is right…..it is not my place….however….having studied Psych at University and been a player in market development and populous manipulation……. I know first hand, I am very aware. Facts are…TV is insidious, manipulative and designed to addict…..there is a reason why millions and millions of dollars are spent just to tell you this soap is for washing dishes…and this one is for washing hands etc……think about it!!!!! I don’t think so…….

So watch TV…..go ahead….. sit there hour after hour, day after day, month after month, year after year, life after……oh wait we only have one life don’t we……..shit there’s that finite number heartbeats thing again. Or just shut it off….walk away…take control of your life !!!!!!

or not………

Toofat

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[Robbo]

Thanks Toofat,

Your post helps me push though the green fog of denial about just how much of an idiot that idiot box can make me/us. I’ll bet ADHD makes us even more vulnerable to the toxic control mechanism of the media monsters.

This could be the most difficult step in the right direction. Entertainment is a double edged sword, when I really see clearly how much it hurts my life it’s a horrible feeling.

The “yeah butt’s” are fighting me tooth and nail.

Entertainment addiction could be the toughest demon I ever face.

Like everything else, it’s a matter of moderation.

I’m glad I don’t have to fight this fight alone.

Something has got to give, this is that something.

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[Anonymous]

Ha……no problem Robbo. Once you know……..you understand, and see what is going on, the purpose and manipulation…..it becomes terribly obvious. Once it is all obvious, and you are conscious of what is going on ….advertising and messaging are no longer effective!!! I wrote a paper on the subject for a Marketing class.

Interesting book is “Subliminal Seduction”……the ins and out of advertising and how messages are imbedded…..EVERYWHERE!! There is reason for all packaging be it on TV or in a magazine, or where have you…marketers leave nothing to chance, it is all scientifically staged and planned!! If you think the media (multi-billionaires/ politicians) are not using the best psych techniques available to meet their goals…….well, shit think again!!!

It’s a fun study……you might also look up Dan Rather’s adventure….quite shocking, but illuminating!!!

Toofat

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[Geoduck]

Before we lived in this house, I had the TV on constantly. We moved here, and it’s in the lower level of the house, where the kids like to play. We never lived in a multi-level house with our kids. The freedom was just too much, and I now have conquered my TV addiction, because I enjoy having some alone time, more. LOL!

That, and I’ve replaced it with my computer addiction.

My vote is it’s because of ADHD, and not the other way around, FWIW.

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[Anonymous]

Gosh Geo……..all of the millions and millions and ……millions of people addicted to spending their one and only precious life sitting on their ass watching fictional fantasy and being exposed to the propaganda espoused by the Power/Wealth Broker’s (1%) on TV, are ADD, that’s the issue…..really….ADD???? A multi-billion dollar industry is betting their WAD on targeting the ADHD audience…… hmmmmm. ……..to what purpose??

Anything is possible…. I guess.

Toofat

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[Author]

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