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The World's Most Depressed People Watch the Most TV
Posted by Jack Loftus at 5:00 AM on November 17, 2008
We're presented with an interesting conundrum this fine afternoon. Exhibit A: A new study says unhappy people watch more TV. Exhibit B: People dealing with the switch from analogue to digital TV are probably the most unhappy TV watchers on the planet right now, next to anyone who's been hoodwinked by the HDTV department at Best Buy. There was even a NASCAR wreck this week because of digital TV. So, if we use the powerful forces of logic on this little puzzle, we can deduce that the digital switch is making analogue TV owners unhappy, which makes them want to watch more TV, which they soon will be unable to do because the signal is about to get cut off. There have been wars started for less, so we anticipate come February 2009, the world is going to end, three years earlier that predicted. Take THAT, Mayans!
The 30-year study, published by the fine folks at the University of Maryland, also discovered that people who read and socialise well are happier on average, and watch watch less TV. This is actually in line with my own research findings, The Jack Loftus Method, which found people are generally happier when having sex with other people, and not their television screens.
And finally, from the Duh! department, comes this gem from Maryland researcher and sociologist John Robinson:
"TV doesn't really seem to satisfy people over the long haul the way that social involvement or reading a newspaper does," said Robinson, who was also the study co-author. "It's more passive and may provide escape - especially when the news is as depressing as the economy itself. The data suggest to us that the TV habit may offer short-run pleasure at the expense of long-term malaise."
Unless, of course, you're watching porn. Then we all win. [University of Maryland]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
Pwnage
Posted 7:14 AM 17/11/08
@cablio:
YES! Give the man a prize!
Pwnage
Pwnage
Posted 7:12 AM 17/11/08
@purple-pillows:
I am a living example.
Pwnage
Oirectine
Posted 7:07 AM 17/11/08
I find this to be untrue, especially since the last book I read was Cormack McCarthy's The Road.
While it was a fantastic book, it does leave you looking for a straightedge blade when you finish.
Oirectine
cablio
Posted 7:06 AM 17/11/08
See, I don't watch TV. Gizmodo news ftw!
cablio
grawss
Posted 7:03 AM 17/11/08
I'm depressed because I watch TV and I watch TV because I'm depressed. :(
grawss
purple-pillows
Posted 7:02 AM 17/11/08
any link between aimless web browsing and depression yet?
purple-pillows
Joker10
Posted 7:38 AM 17/11/08
What if you watch all your TV show online?
Joker10
Trowble (XBL/PSN)
Posted 7:36 AM 17/11/08
Well yea, watching the Mets blow two winning seasons in a row it kind of does make me pop a few Zoloft pills, but I digress.
Oh and I guess owning a TiVo further proves that theory too. I'm such a sad panda.
Trowble (XBL/PSN)
TSlade
Posted 7:33 AM 17/11/08
Other than the news and the Discovery/History channel, all I use my TV for is playing games.
And what's going on in that photo? It looks like there was a disaster a few moments before it was snapped doesn't it?
TSlade
Kakkoister
Posted 7:32 AM 17/11/08
Of course depressed people watch more television..
Because depressed people don't care enough to do anything else!!! Duhh...
As an extremely depressed person I know this. But I choose the computer instead of TV...
Kakkoister
Gilbert
Posted 7:31 AM 17/11/08
And the world's happiest scoff while reading articles such as these on the Internet. That is the antithesis, right? Happy = web?
I sure as hell hope so.
Gilbert
TSlade
Posted 7:27 AM 17/11/08
@Pwnage: Ditto
TSlade
Felix26591
Posted 7:54 AM 17/11/08
@purple-pillows: Kudos
Felix26591
onewiththewurlitzer
Posted 7:49 AM 17/11/08
dude in the photo couldn't get it up. if you notice, the girl has a little smirk of happiness!
onewiththewurlitzer
Trowble (XBL/PSN)
Posted 8:17 AM 17/11/08
@Sollus: Oh I know about those smirks, and that's certainly what it means.
Trowble (XBL/PSN)
Yetibelle
Posted 8:16 AM 17/11/08
@Kakkoister: Its good swap off..TV...Internet...TV...Internet..ect
Yetibelle
Sollus
Posted 8:14 AM 17/11/08
@onewiththewurlitzer:
She got pregnant on purpose is the what that smirk means.
Sollus
Maracas9
Posted 8:26 AM 17/11/08
Id just like to say that me and my friend Richard don`t actually have a television...
Maracas9
TSlade
Posted 8:57 AM 17/11/08
@Trowble (XBL/PSN): 'Well yea, watching the Mets blow two winning seasons in a row it kind of does make me pop a few Zoloft pills, but I digress.' You're not kidding. Thank God for football.
TSlade
Apparatus Ex Somnium Design
Posted 8:49 AM 17/11/08
@grawss: Isn't that the truth.
Apparatus Ex Somnium Design
medopal
Posted 8:49 AM 17/11/08
depressed and un-realistic also. i noticed people who watch a lot of movies will become like living in dreams, they just want to find a girl like Meg Ryan or a treasure like Johny Depp. Some crazy friend just wants one thing a batman car, and no he is not a kid, he is mid 20's.
medopal
asdfsdf
Posted 9:27 AM 17/11/08
I watched 2001 on a TV, which made me depressed at the HAL scene and confused at the end, so I read the book and was happy because I understood what it all meant. So TV causes depression which causes reading which causes happiness...
asdfsdf
asdfsdf
Posted 9:25 AM 17/11/08
@TSlade: If they had been watching TV that never would have happened...
asdfsdf
maztec
Posted 9:13 AM 17/11/08
Wait, which is cause, which is effect?
maztec
dookieboy333
Posted 9:43 AM 17/11/08
is this where our tax dollars are going to? stupid obvious research projects that state the obvious? seriously, what good does a study like this do except for waste time and money? well, i guess idiots need to fulfill their thesis requirements somehow. good 'ol educational system.
dookieboy333
jspec1594
Posted 9:38 AM 17/11/08
The worlds biggest nerds look for new Gizmodo posts 24/7 or is that just me?
jspec1594
DelmarDawidude
Posted 10:03 AM 17/11/08
Watching TV does not make you depressed, per se. It would be more accurate to say that depressed people watch more TV, because they're at home feeling down and aren't motivated to go out and socialize.
DelmarDawidude
B52HVet
Posted 9:56 AM 17/11/08
The exact second I finished reading this article, I heard the tagline from the commercial playing on my tv... "Charter, The best reality out there". Whatever happened to tv being an escape from reality, not a substitute for it?
B52HVet
zjgz
Posted 9:55 AM 17/11/08
@Oirectine: Yeah, that book wasn't very fun. Life was a little depressing for a week after reading that book.
zjgz
Curves
Posted 10:33 AM 17/11/08
I dont buy it. I hardly watch tv and I am certifiable.
Curves
pdditty
Posted 11:04 AM 17/11/08
@Trowble (XBL/PSN): I'm Phillies fan, just thought I let you know Trowble
pdditty
pdditty
Posted 11:04 AM 17/11/08
@TSlade: The dude couldnt get it up and the chick wonders why she ever got into a relationship with him
pdditty
altus
Posted 11:20 AM 17/11/08
Who has time to watch TV? Aren't we all really busy making thing and tinkering with things and interacting on Giz and other places? TV for what? Rock-Band.
altus
pdditty
Posted 11:05 AM 17/11/08
@jspec1594: just Monday through Friday afternoon. Not too much goes on during the weekends on Giz.
pdditty
Trowble (XBL/PSN)
Posted 11:32 AM 17/11/08
@pdditty: No hard feelings.
Trowble (XBL/PSN)
Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude
Posted 11:32 AM 17/11/08
@Curves: Certifiably insane or did you mean clinically depressed?
Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude
Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude
Posted 11:30 AM 17/11/08
@purple-pillows: I'm conducting my own personal study...
Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude
pardyhardy
Posted 1:17 PM 17/11/08
@purple-pillows: probably. but i doubt whether giz would actually post that. i think it would be self destructive for a web page to suggest that it's own perpetuators are depressed
pardyhardy
mrtallbones
Posted 2:05 PM 17/11/08
@dookieboy333: Studies like this pay people so they can eat. That's what they do.
Kind of like how we dug and filled (sometimes right after we finished digging it) in lakes after the great depression. Smart economically, stupid theoretically.
mrtallbones
medopal
Posted 3:25 PM 17/11/08
@jspec1594: not only u :), i have Giz in my RSS and check it every morning with coffee, except weekends.
medopal
chamychan
Posted 4:03 PM 17/11/08
yay, thanks to this research in the future a lifetime supply of prozac comes with buying a TV. I can see my dick shrinking. yay
chamychan
Petezah
Posted 5:33 PM 17/11/08
@Kakkoister: See, I think it's the other way around. Why? Because at one point I watched a ton of TV and didn't have the energy to do much of anything else. I decided at one point to cut it off cold turkey, and discovered that I was much happier and had a lot more energy. Just my experience, FWIW.
Petezah
banmojo
Posted 5:21 PM 17/11/08
this just in! depressed women who practice fellatio with horny geeks multiple times per day soon lose their depressed feelings (which are replaced by feelings of self loathing, but that's another story!)
ok, ok, that was crass, but the 'depressed' chick in the pic looks hot, so it got my mind aimed towards her, me, fellatio. no apolgies.
banmojo
pnau
Posted 8:02 PM 17/11/08
So what happens if you read and watch TV? Do they cancel each other out?
pnau
Curves
Posted 1:01 AM 18/11/08
@Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another du...: Just your basic garden variety type insanity. I have been judged by a professional to be "reasonably stable". (WTF that means I am not sure.)
Curves
BEERxTaco
Posted 1:09 AM 18/11/08
@grawss: We're depraved because we're deprived!
BEERxTaco
Killjoy
Posted 5:15 AM 18/11/08
@medopal: Ever notice how people who watch a lot of TV will act as if they're in a sitcom or a soap opera?
Killjoy
Killjoy
Posted 5:11 AM 18/11/08
"TV doesn't really seem to satisfy people over the long haul... It's more passive and may provide escape... [but] the TV habit may offer short-run pleasure at the expense of long-term malaise."
Gee, I thought that when something had those characteristics it was made illegal. Oh well. I guess drugs are A-OK as long as you can also use them to program the masses.
Killjoy
Decaye
Posted 5:00 AM 18/11/08
My TV is for watching pirated media while I play ps3 and don't have any friends.
Also porn.
Decaye
Curves
Posted 10:35 AM 18/11/08
@Killjoy: Giz is a soap opera but with really cool toys.
Curves
Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude
Posted 10:24 AM 18/11/08
@Curves: It means stable enough to function in society until such time as an event or situation triggers an instant nuclear meltdown...
So basically no better or worse than the majority of us..
Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude
JEmlay
Posted 1:10 PM 18/11/08
@purple-pillows:
It looks like has an uncontrollable drooling problem as the sheet under her mouth looks soaked.
No wonder he'd rather watch TV!
JEmlay
PwnageII
Posted 3:02 PM 18/11/08
@Jrsy is the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another du...:
I'M BACK!
PwnageII