Introduction
Television was a crucial invention in the early 90s when people only had a few chances to see different people providing entertainment at home. Television has an impact on our daily lives seriously. All the new brands nowadays gathered most of their public through television advertisements. Also, now there are many forms of televisions present in the market with the help of modern technologies like smart TVs or LCDs. Most of the latest builds of televisions involve QLEDs using (quantum technologies). TV addiction is also a popular term nowadays because it is in human instinct that what we find pleasurable, we give all our time to, no matter if it is healthy or not; our brain wants pleasure from that thing. Hence, we do it again and again, and this is the criteria of addiction. TV is also a platform that can trigger our compulsive behaviors to get enjoyment, so that is why we waste all day on TV by watching content like movies, news, and so many other entertaining broadcasting channels.
What is TV addiction?
A compulsive behavior of watching TV all day long without considering its negative impact on health and also ignoring your important tasks and self-care to just watch TV is known as TV addiction. In this era of modernization, people only focus on things that give them short-term pleasure and a feeling of happiness. Hence, they choose options that are not good for their health, like watching content on TV, which triggers their dopamine a lot. Dopamine is a neurochemical that gives you a feeling of high and pleasure for a short period.
A person who is addicted to watching TV is more likely to have a sedentary lifestyle and is lethargic. In TV addiction, people watch TV continuously after waking up and going to bed. Also, consume junk food more than usual while watching TV, so with TV addiction, many other addictions are also connected, like fast food addiction, which can drastically affect your physical and mental health.
Watching more than usual will have a major effect on eye health because when you watch TV, the amount of blue light straightly enters your eyes and causes myopia and hypermetropia, which leads you to wear eyeglasses or lenses. These are just eye conditions. Watching TV too much causes many chronic health conditions.
What are the causes of TV addiction?
TV addiction can be caused by various factors that make you watch TV all day long by neglecting its dangerous side effects that can negatively affect your health. Some factors that are major causes of TV addiction are the following:
Addictive personality: If you have an addictive personality, it is more likely you can develop TV addiction because a person with this personality seeks pleasure, and where he finds it, he can do this activity compulsively without considering how dangerous it can be. Dopamine is the prime chemical that can affect our mood and gives us pleasure, so by watching TV, we get entertainment in the form of movies and shows that have suspense and the ability to raise our emotions; these things can directly stimulate our dopamine centers; which makes a person addictive to watch TV.
Escaping from reality: Normally, people watch TV to get entertainment, but for many people, it can be an escape from their painful daily life problems, anxiety, and stress. People can watch TV to get rid of anxiety and stress also because at that time you watch TV, it feels good, and you forget your problematic and stressful thoughts for that period, so escapism from your painful truths or situations can be a major cause of TV addiction.
Introvert personality: if you are an introverted kind of person, it is determined that you don’t like to socialize with other people, so you have more time to spend alone. To avoid boredom, you watch TV for longer periods, which makes you addicted to this highly dopaminergic activity, which continuously puts you in a loop of that addiction.
What are the risks involved with TV addiction?
TV addiction can damage your mental and physical health to a greater extent. The most common health conditions caused by TV addiction are the following:
Low cognitive performance
If your screen time is too much, it may harm your cognitive abilities to think and learn because when you watch TV, all of your brain systems are activated. The brain starts processing all the activities that you are observing on your TV, and in this process, your energy level drops. You do not have much energy to use for your daily activities, and there is a loss in your cognitive performance.
Obesity
When you are addicted to watching TV a lot, it can seriously affect your physical health, and you start consuming more food than normal as snacks by watching your favorite content on TV. Many people eat foods that are high in fats, like chips and fast food, while watching TV, which makes their body store extra calories as fat, and they become obese.
Slow metabolism
If you are addicted to watching TV, it is more likely you will have an inactive and lazy lifestyle, which directly affects your metabolism and slows its functioning. Sitting in a specific area for a longer period can also impact your bones and muscles and weaken them.
How to stop TV addiction?
To break TV addiction, we first have to analyze the causes of how we are addicted to tv? after focusing on those causes and correcting them, we will be able to break our tv addiction, yet there are many strategies that we can use to break our Tv addiction like If you want to get rid of tv addiction, you first need to identify your triggers which leads you to watch tv more than usual. These triggers involve anxiety, depression, and escaping from problems. If you are committed to leaving TV addiction to yourself, then nobody will be able to stop you because willpower is the most important thing. Exercise more and spend time with friends than wasting your time on TV.
