TV reduces the effect of income on individual happiness.

[DiscoStu]

This paper argues that television viewing produces higher mate- rial aspirations, by enhancing both adaptation and positional effects, thus lowering the effect of income on life satisfaction. Using individ- ual data from the World Values Survey we present evidence indicating that the effect of income on both life and financial satisfaction is sig- nificantly smaller for heavy television viewers, relative to occasional viewers. This finding is robust to a number of specification checks and alternative interpretations. Overall, the results can be interpreted as providing an additional explanation for the income-happiness paradox: the pervasive and increasing role of television viewing in people’s life, by raising material aspirations, reduces the effect of income on individual happiness.

http://boa.unimib.it/bitstream/10281/23044/2/Income_Aspirations_Television_and_Happiness.pdf

well god damn, yet another reason to turn off that soul destroying death-box

[smokeliss]

Only time that Ive watched the TV would be when visiting family members, but can feel my stress levels going up, so much visual stimulation, so overwhelming.

I now treat news the same way, it only ever depresses and angers me, there is so little that can be done about what goes on, that I now only focus in things that I can personally address, and happier for it. Some people say Im sticking my head in the sand, but it allows me to focus on things that I can actually change.

[obtuse]

I barely turn my tv on. having said that i watch a lot of media on my pc setup, but its media of my choice, movies or tv shows that have been recommended to me.

The news is depressing, not the sad events of the world as there always will be, but that it seems to miss something completely fundamental, the science shows i feel have been dumbed down, there are no longer any really good documentaries, gone are the days of Attenborough etc. and its interesting how a lot of shows are simply about materialism, property improvement etc.

I grew up with a healthy dose of television, and because it was locked into abc, or sbs, there were always so many great documentaries it was a pleasure to watch. but that seems to be lost today. my children dont watch tv, except the the saturday cartoons, otherwise its old tv series i have been able to collect, or old documentaries, i.e attenborough, because i want them to feel inspirired too, not boxed into a categorisation, or pummeled with what they supposedly "need".

The degree to which tv seems to have been dumbed down, and the way the news treats the rest of the world like a freak show, is a really interesting sociological phenomenon, and it really seems to have contributed to the boganisation of Australia. PhD project anyone? i know i can ask here, because most people in my town would give me blank stares.

[smokeliss]

The degree to which tv seems to have been dumbed down, and the way the news treats the rest of the world like a freak show, is a really interesting sociological phenomenon, and it really seems to have contributed to the boganisation of Australia. PhD project anyone? i know i can ask here, because most people in my town would give me blank stares.

In our group of friends no one watches TV, as in the televised, we all enjoy our entertainment, but on our terms, broadcast TV is as good as dead imo.

[ThunderIdeal]

only owned a crappy old tv for a couple of years when i didn't have phone/internet, and only resorted to watching it a handful of times.

it seems so low-tech to watch this fixed stream packed with advertisements. i've lived with foxtel as well and it's about twice as good as free-to-air, which isn't saying much. i do like tv shows, movies and tv media, i just think tv is an outdated way of receiving it and you can't filter the content as much (can't choose uncensored material, can't avoid ads, catch snippets of other shit while surfing between channels).

i wonder how much advertisements have to do with the findings? was tv as miserable before the age of unpaid actors eg reality tv?