Is television addiction a problem for many people? Some may argue if television addiction is real or not but as a serious TV viewer, you need to assess your behavior and evaluate if you are actually addicted.

Let’s look at what an addiction is and then evaluate if excessive television viewing can be labeled as an addiction.

What Is An Addiction?

An addiction is an uncontrollable urge to repeat a behavior regardless of its harmful consequences. The question is – do you feel an uncontrollable urge to watch TV constantly? Do you find it hard to pry yourself away from the television set?

Addictions are usually described as either:-

(a) Physical dependence because the “drug” used may cause your body to crave the substance

or

(b) Psychological addiction – one that is linked to a set of behaviors that are purely mental.

You don’t feel pain when you don’t watch TV so it is safe to say that television addiction is a mental condition. Yes – it’s all in the mind. You may find that you watch the tube for long hours although you know you have other things to do. This can be labeled as procrastination, and that is also a mind thing.

Why Is Television So Addictive?

When you watch TV, don’t you feel more peaceful? You seem to be more attracted to the dual nature of the television set. The feeling it gives you is due to the way you learn. Most of us are audio or visual learners and we grasp things better in these formats. The television is the only medium that targets both of these models of learning.

This adds to the attractiveness of this model of entertainment. It stimulates the brain and pretty soon your television addiction replaces all other forms of entertainment.

Easy Access

What adds to any addiction is the accessibility of the “drug.” Most homes have at least two television sets. The center of attention of most living rooms is the new LCD screen. The costs of such luxuries are so inexpensive that the regular Joe can have one.

Look at the cost of having cable in your home. Now for no extra charge you can have all the TVs in your house outfitted with their own cable connection.

Another factor in excessive television viewing is the fact that there is no learning curve to watching it. All you need to know is where the on-button is on the TV or remote.

Because of its ease of use more parents use this tool as a pacifier for kids. Your child may not be running up and down the house but that doesn’t mean it's a good thing.

This can be linked to the growing epidemic of childhood diabetes. They don’t exercise any muscles when they watch TV not even their brains. No wonder they hate school so much.

Human Needs

As a human being your need for relaxation is important and because you find it so easy to unwind in front of the tube it satisfies this immediate need.

Gossip it another major contender in the television addiction arena. When you’re at work what do you find to be the hot topics? Could it be the latest celebrity relationship news? If you’re not part of the TV viewing public you may find it harder to relate or hold conversations with others.

To be honest who doesn’t like a good fairytale story? You will find the perfect marriage, the best fashion and the sexiest people alive on you favorite show. You love them so much that all you want to do is talk about them with everyone.

Hypnotic Effect

Hey, maybe you’re in a trance - that is why you can’t escape from the strong grip of the tube. Before - I used to find it hard to move to urinate. That’s just crazy but I didn’t want to miss a juicy part of the show.

Think about it for a second – for a person to be hypnotized he or she would first have to want to be hypnotized. This is something that you do everyday.

You let yourself get lost in the moment in your favorite drama scene. Like the part when your two favorite characters lean forward to kiss each other and you begin to imagine that you are right there in the scene.

If that isn’t hypnosis at its best then I don’t know what is. It becomes like your master and you its loyal subject. You start to live in the fairytale and this can cause other serious problems for you as well.

How To Curb You Television Addiction

(a) Start with the excess TVs in the house. You may want to get rid of them. Hey, make some extra money and sell them on eBay. You really only need one set in the house. Not only will you be less tempted to watch TV during sleep time but your electricity and cable bills will be a little less each month.

(b) Schedule some other form of entertainment for yourself. When was the last time you went out to dinner without the movie? Spend some time outdoors having fun in different ways. The cinema doesn’t have a seat with your name on it.

(c) Try watching one show a day instead of half the TV guides scheduled programs. This will be hard but pick out your favorite show and watch only that.

(d) Here is a good one – throw away the remote. With less comfort and more interruptions to get up and manually change the channel this will surely cut your tube time in half.

(e) Try making the tube secondary by scheduling other hobbies for yourself to take your mind off of it.

(f) If you have kids monitor how much time you spend with them doing educational and relationship building exercises compared to them watching TV. If the tube spends more time with your kid than you- ask yourself- who’s raising my kid?

(g) Have a couple of TV free days per week. On these days make it your business to do everything other than pressing the on-button.

Those are just a few things you can try but for peace sake, stop letting the tube run your life. Having a television addiction is serious and you need to get over it- Today!