#914 TV Downer

A recent study concluded that the unhappier you are the more TV you’re likely to watch. That’s too bad. But true, because the more TV I watch the unhappier I get.
The study showed that people surveyed who view themselves as happy only watch 19 hours of TV a week while those who said they are unhappy watched 25 hours a week.
The other 6 hours must be the nightly news.
Does the extra 6 hours cause the depression? Or do people think that 6 extra hours helps them combat depression, loneliness, melancholy and isolation? Like, maybe 6 extra hours of Barney and Sponge Bob could help?
Maybe it’s the extra hours eating junk food in front of the tube and then getting depressed over putting on the extra pounds.
I can only conclude that the mild malaise I feel every day must be super happiness, as I watch TV a grand total of 8 hours a week.
But as we head into the economic depression, psychological depression becomes ever more important. Some thinkers predict this depression will be hard to see. All those iconic pictures we remember from the Great Depression of the 30s won’t happen. There won’t be crowds at ball games like the last depression because ball games cost too much these days. There won’t be long lines at soup kitchens because you can use food stamps at the ordinary supermarket. And other things they didn’t have in the 30s, like unemployment insurance, Social Security and Medicare will help.
But what will most likely still happen is people will find ways to eat cheaper and be entertained for less. The dollar menu at fast food places will be getting a thorough going over. And the cheapest entertainment will be the TV.
So the pictures of this economic depression will feature cellphone snapshots of people sitting in front of the TV eating junkfood. Getting more psychological depression as their watching time heads over the 26-hour mark.
Funny. I have pictures in my head of this exact thing. But it’s from sitcoms of 20 somethings going through their useless years.
Fast food, TV, sitting around doing nothing.
Is this a depression or NFL Sunday?
America, ya gotta love it.