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Television now part of family
By Charlie Mustachia
Battalion Reporter
The television has become
almost a member of the family in
the modem American house
hold. It is used as a babysitter,
sleep-inducer, nightlight, com
panion and sometimes even as a
form of entertainment.
By the time an average child
reaches the age of 12, his TV-
watching hours will more than
double his classroom hours. At
the age of 75, the man who
watches the average three and
one-half hours of television per
day will have spent seventy
thousand hours in front of his
TV set — that's eight years of
television.
Bill Strong, lecturer in speech
communications at Texas A&M
University and television adver
tising specialist, said the televi
sion has taken top priority in the
typical living room.
"First thing we say when we
move into a new house or apart-
By the time an
average child
reaches the age of
12, his TV-watching
hours will more
than double his
classroom hours.
ment is, 'How can we best
arrange the furniture so that we
can watch the television?"'
When the location of the cable
hook-up determines the living
room seating arrangement,
Strong said, the viewer chooses
the artificial life that television
provides over the reality of hu
man interaction.
Dr. Emily Davidson, Texas
A&M psychology professor and
children's television specialist,
said, "Most people decide
they're going to watch television
rather than watch a specific
show; they sit there and watch
whatever's on and the networks
know it."
Networks don't allow for in
novative programs, Davidson
said. Because shows are cancel
led quickly, new shows must be
successful within the first few
weeks. "The best thing to do is
imitate something," she said.
"Things that are different don't
get much of a chance."
Critics agree that "M*A*S*H"
provides a higher degree of in
tellectual stimulation than most
television shows. In the Bryan-
College Station area, cable TV
makes "M*A*S*H" available
more than once a day — avid
fans can see three consecutive
"M*A*S*H" episodes each
weekday.
"There are certain shows we
see as an art," Strong said, "and
when you look at a piece of art
over and over, you gain a grea
ter appreciation with the repeti
tion of experience."
But Human Behavior maga
zine's Ann Nietzke said repeti
tion and non-selective TV view
ing may be turning us into
"videots."
Humanity perhaps invented a
monster we can't control, Neitz-
ke said. "In fact, the monster
may very well be controlling
us."
Because television viewing is
sometimes considered an addic
tion, many viewers speak of
"cutting down" on their watch
ing habits or "weaning" their
children from television.
Davidson advises the
"addict" to cut back slowly on
total time in front of the TV set,
keeping a record of viewing
hours. She said it is best to select
the shows you want to watch
and mark them in a television
guide. Then watch only the
shows you mark.
Strong goes a step further.
"Put your television up in a
cabinet or a closet," he said, "so
that if you want to watch it you
have to get it out and plug it in."
A DePaul University clinical
psychology graduate student
suggests parents put locks and
meters on their television sets to
has help break their children's
TV habits. In an article in the
Houston Chronicle, Patty
Rooney-Rebeck said, "Unless
you watch the meter tick by, you
Critics agree that
provides a higher
degree of
intellectual
stimulation than
most television
shows.
really don't realize exactly how
much time you're spending in
front of the tube."
Talk show host Dick Cavett
said evenings, weeks, months
and years of sitting in front of
the television passively staring
at the glowing box will "numb
the brain."
The phrase "fireplace syn
drome" describes the relaxed,
hypnotic effect felt by viewers
while staring at the television.
Strong said he suspects that
sitting in a dark room staring at
the 300,000 bulbs of flickering
light, resembles a psychologist's
hypnotic strobe effect. "It's not
the programming that makes
people watch watch television
— the programming is terrible
— it's the technology itself."
Whether television is seen in a
hypnotic or concious state, the
habit of watching TV is hard to
break because televisions are
everywhere.
Many bars, nightclubs, re
staurants and washaterias now
have televisions. Some spots
even have the large screen-
projector televisions. Of course,
no one is obligated to watch the
screen while eating, drinking or
washing, but, the fact remains,
the screen is there.
If "fireplace syndrome" is a
reality, then diners, drinkers
and even laundry washers
might not have real control over
their perception.
Neitzke called watching tele
vision "a very private act." She
said Michael J. Aden's state
ment concerning "what we do
in these half-lit rooms of ours,
on our own, our bodies
sprawled before the set, our
thoughts neither communica
tive nor far away" reveals that,
while TV is a public medium, it
is often "as private and myste
rious as masturbation."
Strong said TV is like a seda
tive. "It allows you to escape,"
he said. "You have to think to
read a book; you have to think to
write; you have to think to carry
on a conversation. You don't
have to think to watch TV."
Davidson said college stu
dents tend to become disgusted
with the time they spend — or
waste — watching television
more often than nine-to-five
workers. When faced with a
choice between hitting the
books and staring at the tube,
many students choose the latter.
"College students have a lot
to do," Davidson said. "The av
erage worker sits down at seven
to watch TV and he does so until
10. He really doesn't feel too bad
about that."
Davidson said television is so
much a part of our culture that
she would never quit watching
TV altogether. She said because
she doesn't watch "Saturday
Night Live" many jokes and
conversations with friends go
right over her head.
"If a lot of people around you
spend time talking about what's
on television, you're out of
those conversations."
Strong agrees that a positive
effect of television is its ability to
give millions of viewers a com
mon experience, thus bringing
them closer together.
He said the only problem
emerges when we watch TV
only because we've been condi
tioned to do so or because every
one else does so. "People watch
'Saturday Night Live' not be
cause they are rewarded by it
every week," he said, "but be
cause something funny might
happen this time."
Does TV effect behavior? Do
technological aspects of televi
sion have hypnotic effects on
viewers? Is television addicting?
David Loye, a writer for
Psychology Today magazine,
said if you ask these questions
you'll get a vehement "yes"
from some and a vehement
The phrase
"fireplace
syndrome"
describes the
relaxed, hypnotic
effect felt by
viewers •
"no" from others. "Whichever
position they take," he said,
"they're sure to agree on one
thing: they really can't be sure
without doing more research."
Barbara Walters, in a U.S.
News & World Report inter
view, said TV isn't perfect but
has its positive aspects. "People
(Americans) know a great deal
about a surprising variety of
things," she said. "In great part,
that's the result of television.
"Could it (television) do
more? Yes. Is it a beast? No."
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