Hidden Addiction: Television
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Journal of Behavioral AddictionsJournal 2(3),of Behavioral pp. 125–132 Addictions (2013) DOI: 10.1556/JBA.2.2013.008 First published online June 14, 2013 Hidden addiction: Television STEVE SUSSMAN1* and MEGHAN B. MORAN2 1Departments of Preventive Medicine and Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA 2School of Communication, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA (Received: February 12, 2013; revision received: April 22, 2013; accepted: April 22, 2013) Background and aims: The most popular recreational pastime in the U.S. is television viewing. Some researchers have claimed that television may be addictive. We provide a review of the definition, etiology, prevention and treat- ment of the apparent phenomenon of television addiction. Methods: Selective review. Results: We provide a descrip- tion of television (TV) addiction, including its negative consequences, assessment and potential etiology, consider- ing neurobiological, cognitive and social/cultural factors. Next, we provide information on its prevention and treat- ment. Discussion and conclusions: We suggest that television addiction may function similarly to substance abuse disorders but a great deal more research is needed. Keywords: addiction, television, prevention, treatment INTRODUCTION (Barnouw, 1992). Prior to that time, before TV was widely available, there could not be a phenomenon of television ad- Recently, there has been consensus accumulating that there diction. However, the suggestion of the existence of televi- exist many types of behavior that might be considered addic- sion addiction began shortly after widespread viewing in the tions (e.g., see Sussman, Lisha & Griffiths, 2011). Addic- U.S. For example, Meerloo (1954), based on clinical case tions do not include only behaviors typically associated with study observations, suggested that television addiction was a excess and being a waste of potentially productive time (e.g., real entity, another source of “food for the senses” that might substance abuse, gambling). Addictions may include behav- involve such a preoccupation so as to lead to generalized iors that may be intrinsically life-fulfilling but have ap- apathy, neglect of responsibilities, negativism, and fantasy. peared to spiral out of control (e.g., exercise, binge eating, More recent work (1980s Swedish small general population relationships or work). Addictions also may include behav- sample) provided similar information, based on experience iors that are often intrinsically not associated with excess, sampling data (Sjoberg & Magneberg, 2007). The first sur- are not generally considered life-fulfilling, but are often con- vey study on television addiction was conducted by Smith in sidered a waste of productive time (e.g., television viewing). 1982 (Smith, 1986), which led to questioning the prevalence Sussman (2012) identified 16 categories of addictions of the phenomenon (though a majority of subjects perceived based on an extensive electronic literature search of “types the existence of the phenomenon) but did identify a small of addictions”. These categories were: Drugs, Food-related, sample of self-identified television addicts who viewed Compulsive anti-social behavior (e.g., aggression), Tech- twice as much television as others. nology/communications related (e.g., videogames, televi- sion), Gambling, Working, Social group-related (e.g., sex, love, platonic relationships), Physical attractiveness-fo- 1 Given the prevalence of video content on the Internet, we include cused (e.g., tanning, cosmetic surgery), Fantasizing (e.g., televised content accessed via the Internet in our definition of tele- isolation, laziness), Exercise-related, Spiritual obsession, vision. This includes content first broadcast on television (e.g., Pain seeking (e.g., self-mutilation, skin picking), Shopping, viewing an episode of “Modern Family” on Hulu) as well as con- Thrill/adventure seeking, Hoarding (e.g., small collect- tent produced exclusively for the Internet (e.g., “House of Cards”, ables), and Voyeurism (e.g., celebrity or other idolization, which can be viewed only via Netflix). However, for simplicity’s gossiping). Television addiction is an example of a technol- sake we refer to this content as well as traditional televised content ogy addiction, according to this scheme. Television (TV) as “television”. We hesitate in applying this same label to many addiction refers to out-of-control behavior pertaining to the YouTube videos (which vary a great deal in air time, might be medium of television,1 as opposed to a particular show on filmed and aired as well as viewed, and which has Web 2.0/social television (McIlwraith, Jacobvitz, Kubey & Alexander, aspects). The latter might be more realistically placed under a more 1991). That is, one may feel a subjective craving to view broad category of “screen addiction” (e.g., also encompasses television a great deal to achieve a sense of satiation, become videogames, social networking, and texting), which goes beyond preoccupied with the idea of viewing television, not be able the scope of this review. to predict how long one will watch TV (loss of control), and * Corresponding author: Steve Sussman, PhD, FAAHB, FAPA, In- suffer negative life consequences as the result (Sussman & stitute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research, Sussman, 2011). University of Southern California, Soto Street Building, 2001 Widespread television viewing began in 1936 in Great North Soto Street, Room 302A, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA; Britain (http://www.teletronic.co.uk/tvera.htm; accessed Phone: +1-323-442-8220; Cell phone: +1-626-376-0389; Fax: December 14, 2012), and in 1947/8 in the United States +1-626-442-8201; E-mail: [email protected] ISSN 2062-5871 © 2013 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest Sussman and Moran Television viewing remains the most popular form of lei- Google Scholar. In the next section of this paper we briefly sure activity in the United States (an average of 2.8 hours per review examples of negative consequences of excessive TV day in the general population; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statis- viewing. tics, 2012), as well as in Australia and Western Europe (e.g., http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/ obesity-causes/television-and-sedentary-behavior-and-obe- RESULTS sity/; accessed January 30, 2013). Clearly, wide variation exists regarding what is considered heavy viewing, and the Examples of negative consequences of TV viewing addictive aspect is more a function of interference with com- pletion of life tasks rather than number of hours of viewing Consequences mentioned in a cursory search of the litera- per se (Horvath, 2004). Because of the sheer amount of time ture include the impact of relatively heavy television view- people view TV, however, and because of the apparent con- ing on (a) creating political or social biases (e.g., regarding sensus that TV addiction exists, this is an avenue of addic- presidential candidates, racial stereotyping) and shaping or tion research worth pursuing. increasing purchasing behavior (Jusoff & Sahimi, 2009; There has been argumentation and a little evidence for an Romer, Jamieson & Aday, 2003), (b) increased aggression opposing perspective regarding the impact of TV viewing, or fear of being victimized Romer, Jamieson & Aday, 2003), and the existence of TV addiction. For example, one discus- (c) attention and cognitive deficits (e.g., may contribute to sion piece argued that television has been a scapegoat for so- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder; Christakis, cial ills, derived in part from a television-as-drug metaphor Zimmerman, DiGiuseppe & McCarty, 2004; Sigman, (Mittell, 2000). Also, one study of college student subjects 2007), (d) possibly a negative impact on academic achieve- found that television viewing was inversely related to sensa- ment at least at extreme levels of viewing (though not in all tion seeking, alcohol, and drug use, and positively associ- studies; Paik, 2000), (e) predicting later cigarette smoking ated with religiosity, suggesting that it was an innocuous ac- (Hancox, Milne & Poulton, 2004), (f) sleep difficulties tivity (Finn, 1992). Furthermore, television may facilitate (Sigman, 2007), (g) avoidance of relationship maintenance relationship bonding (e.g., family gathering around the tele- (Chory & Banfield, 2009), (h) lower life satisfaction (Frey, vision). That is, television viewing can be a communal expe- Benesch & Stutzer, 2007), (i) poorer body image among rience, as many television viewers come together to view women (Grabe, Ward & Shibley Hyde, 2008), and (j) seden- and discuss programs (Andrejevic, 2008; Bagley, 2001). Fi- tary lifestyle leading to lower cardiorespiratory fitness, ele- nally, a considerable body of evidence indicates that televi- vated serum cholesterol level and obesity (e.g., Anderson, sion operates as a form of entertainment-education and is a Crespo, Bartlett, Cheskin & Pratt, 1998). Regarding the last source of health information for many viewers (see Singhal, consequence, for example, children 8–16 years old who Cody, Rogers & Sabido, 2004 for a review). watched four or more hours of TV per day were found to Thus, TV may exert positive as well as negative effects. have greater body fat and a higher body mass index than However, just as alcohol use may serve a social lubrication those who watched less than two hours per day (Hancox function for some people and a source of drug dependence et al., 2004; McIlwraith et al., 1991). One rather dramatic