Watching the TV

According to The Sourcebook of Technical Science, Americans watch a combined 250 billion hours of television per year. I've never really been big on watching TV, but I know a lot of people who are. It becomes part of your routine. Certain days at certain times, these kids stop everything they're doing (like homework) in order to watch their show. DVR has made it so that we can watch these shows at a later time that conveniences us more, but people are still spending that 30 minutes or that hour watching TV. During the TV "experiment" we did, I thought the most interesting part was watching somebody else watch TV. I chose to watch my little brother while he watched one of his shows, "Criminal Minds". Even though the show is supposed to be suspenseful, his face was completely blank throughout the episode. He seemed mesmerized by the screen, rather than engaged. TV doesn't really require your mind to work; you just sit and stare. I think it's strange that Americans seem to place such high value on watching TV, considering they also value hard work and being efficient with your time. Isn't TV one of the biggest wastes of time?

The last part of the experiment called for watching the TV, but the power had to be turned off. It was incredibly boring. I thought, "Why am I doing this? I have other homework I could be working on". It struck me then that we are literally doing the exact same thing when the TV is turned on. We value efficiency, but spend 250 billion hours per year sitting on a couch, watching a box? Our eyes are glued to the screen, drawn in by all of the visual effects. Everything about the TV is made to draw you in. Especially now, when there are now 3-D televisions and extra vivid colors and surround sound. You're no longer just watching a movie or show, you're actually immersed in it. But that doesn't make your brain work any harder. TV is absolutely hypnotizing. The experiment we did made it easier to see exactly what was hypnotizing about it. Depending on how long you were watching for, you could see hundreds of visual or sound effects, such as camera movement or editing or even those little boxes in the corner with information about upcoming shows. Everything was made to keep the viewer watching. I had always known that commercials and TV were purposely trying to hook you, but now that we've really analyzed it and seen that even the littlest thing can be a trick to capture your attention, I know what to look out for. Only by being aware of these things can you see past them.