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AREYOUA
TVADDICT?
Nicholas Johnson. former head
of the FCC. recently suggested .
with a wee bit of face tiousness.
that television could be as ad–
dicti ve
as
alcohol. He offers th is
list of ten ques tions wh ich wi tt
help you to determine ifyou a re
a lready addicted to television:
1.
Do you turn down the se t
whcn you answer thc phone so
the calte r won' t know you' re
wa tching telev ision?
2.
Do you stay up late wa tch–
ing television. but can' t remem–
ber the next morning what you
saw?
3.
Do you have to wa tch a tele–
vision program as soon as you
get up in the morning?
4.
Do you suddenly find tha t
you have watched severa! tele–
vis ion programs in a row with–
out thinking about it?
5.
When you have visitors. do
you find it imposs ible to turn off
the set or to carry on a conve r–
sa tion without cont inui ng to
wa tch?
14
6.
tf unexpected visiLO rs come.
do you rush to turn the channel
toa "better'' program?
7.
Did you refuse a socia l en–
gagemcnt because you did n't
wa nt to miss
a
program. but
were ashamed to tell anyone
tha t was the reason'!
8. 1
f you try to go through an
eveni ng without televis ion. do
you become nervous and irri–
table? Do you have trouble fig–
uring out wha t to do with your
e
y
es?
9.
When o th er peop le say
you' re wa tching too much te le–
vision. do you become defcn –
sive?
1O.
Do you find yourself
saying.
"l
never watch TV. but
l
j ust happened to turn the set on
the other night and ...."
show had become more aggressive
than his partner!
Television-lnduced Apathy
An even more disturbing conclusion
was found in a recent study by re–
searchers Ronald Drabman of the
University of Mississippi Medica!
Center in Jackson and Margaret
Hanratty Thomas of Florida Tech–
nological Unive rsi ty in Orlando.
They found that violence on TV di–
rectly cont ribut ed to giving ch il dren
a head start on the apathy that has
grown to such scandalous propor–
ti ons in the adul t population of so–
ciety.
In three separare experimen ts.
they found that ·'exposure to TV
vio lence can increase
normal
chil–
d_ren's toleration of real-life aggres–
swn .
"These st udi es provide trong evi–
dence that conti nued exposure to
TV violence is teaching children to
accept aggress ion as a way of life.'.'
the researchers stated. If TY is
teaching some to become more vio–
lent while others are learning
to
to l–
erate their aggression. "a future
society in which virtually all adu lts
have been exposed to
a
cont in ued
deluge of violence since infancy
could well be an unfortuna te place
to live."
Many scientists are convincecl the
cause-and-effect rel a tionship in
chil–
dren
has been well established . "But
remember." point out Dr. Fredric
Wertham. ''chi ldren grow up to be
adults. incorporating into their psy–
ches the thousands of hours of tele–
vision they saw in their youth.' '
Adults Also Affected
lndeed, new recent research is now
establishing that it is not only
im–
pressionable children th at a re
adversely influenced by TV pro–
gramming. Scientis ts are now find–
ing evidence tha t television is also
directly pushing
adults
toward ag–
gressive behavior.
The results of a University of Cal –
ifornia study "are especially impor–
tant," says researcher Dr. Roderick
Gorney, "because adul ts, after a ll.
are the ones who are making deci–
sions. declaring war, voting for pres–
iden t. putting add iti ves in our
food ...."
Dr. Gorney a nd ot her researchers
are ñnding ind icat ions tha t exces–
sive viewing or crime and violence
shows (they constitute 30 percent of
prime-time TV) apparently can
stimulate aggressive behavior in
ad ults and can a lso develop in them
a distorted view of how dangerous
the world real ly is .
The adults in the test group that
were presented with a consta nt diet
of violence on TV rated themselves
as increasingly more host ile and ag–
gressive in mood as time passed.
They also we re observed to be act–
ing more aggressive ly toward thei r
fam iJies, and associates. and they
were less tolerant of minor fru st ra–
tions. By contrast. tho e exposed to
TY programs encouraging ben–
eficence an d humanitarianism gen–
erally became more charitable in
mood and act ions.
Distorted View of Reality
Dr. George Gerbner. dean of the
Annenberg School of Communica–
tions at the Un iversity of Pennsylva–
ni a . sta ted that his research shows
that constant viewe rs of television
be lieve there is a 50-50 cha nce of
being involved in a violent incident
in any given week. ln actua l fact.
says Gerbner. the sta tistics are one
in 100. but the viewers' distorted
ideas abou t the world came from
their immersion in the TY world of
muggings. violence. and murd er.
Does all this mean a person
should yank his televis ion cord out
of the wall socket or take an ax to
his TV set? No. teJev ision is a tech–
nological and social phenomenon
tha t's here to stay. and we need to
make the best use of it.
The television set of itse lf is not
the problem. lt only rece ives what
broadcasters choose to sell and au–
diences choose to watch . Nor is the
television the only media source of
violence and immorality. But it is
unq uest ionably the largest a nd mos t
influential ource.
The
PLAIN TRUTH August 1976