According to Ofcom, the British are spending more time watching TV, in contrast to several other European nations, where TV viewing is declining.
Is this good for us? Research by Bruno Frey has suggested not. He shows that many people who watch lots of TV report lower subjective well-being. One reason for this is that TV raises our material aspirations and so increases our discontent.
This hints at a worrying possibility. Maybe people lack self-control, or are unable to predict well how activities will change their tastes. If so, people aren’t the best judges of their own well-being. And if this is true even of mundane, everyday things like TV, how much more likely to be true is it in less familiar contexts? Which suggests a case for some kind of paternalism.
However, a new paper (pdf) by Mitesh Kataria and Tobias Regner show that this view might be too hasty. They show that the relationship between TV viewing and happiness varies enormously from nation to nation. For example, in Germany, Australia, Finland and the US (to a lesser extent) people who watch no TV are happier than those who watch more than three hours a day. But the opposite is true for Spain, Norway and Sweden (their data doesn’t cover the UK).
This suggests we just can’t generalize whether TV is good for us or not.
The trivial implication here is that it depends what’s on TV.
But there’s a less trivial implication. This is that happiness research is not (yet) a settled field. It’s findings are subject to legitimate dispute. Might there be a danger that everyone - paternalists or not - are too hasty to find what they want in it?
Is this good for us? Research by Bruno Frey has suggested not. He shows that many people who watch lots of TV report lower subjective well-being. One reason for this is that TV raises our material aspirations and so increases our discontent.
This hints at a worrying possibility. Maybe people lack self-control, or are unable to predict well how activities will change their tastes. If so, people aren’t the best judges of their own well-being. And if this is true even of mundane, everyday things like TV, how much more likely to be true is it in less familiar contexts? Which suggests a case for some kind of paternalism.
However, a new paper (pdf) by Mitesh Kataria and Tobias Regner show that this view might be too hasty. They show that the relationship between TV viewing and happiness varies enormously from nation to nation. For example, in Germany, Australia, Finland and the US (to a lesser extent) people who watch no TV are happier than those who watch more than three hours a day. But the opposite is true for Spain, Norway and Sweden (their data doesn’t cover the UK).
This suggests we just can’t generalize whether TV is good for us or not.
The trivial implication here is that it depends what’s on TV.
But there’s a less trivial implication. This is that happiness research is not (yet) a settled field. It’s findings are subject to legitimate dispute. Might there be a danger that everyone - paternalists or not - are too hasty to find what they want in it?
There's an implicit assumption, not just that individuals don't predict their future well-being accurately, but also that some other person would be better. Even if people misjudge their own desires, the assumption that someone else will judge them better is pretty heroic.
Posted by: Richard Gadsden | December 18, 2009 at 07:45 PM
Essentially what you say is that humans can't look after themselves. Therefore some other humans (who also can't look after themselves) have to have the power to look after the rest of us. No idea how these will be selected to ensure they have the capability to look after themselves and then us?
Posted by: Neil Murphy | December 18, 2009 at 08:11 PM
"For example, in Germany, Australia, Finland and the US (to a lesser extent) people who watch no TV are happier than those who watch more than three hours a day."
That's self-evident if you've ever seen German or Australian TV.
Posted by: Chris C | December 19, 2009 at 03:20 AM
Is watching lots of TV a cause or effect of unhappiness?
Posted by: Bruce | December 21, 2009 at 12:41 PM
Never frown, when you are sad, because you never know who is falling in love with your smile.
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I can't decide what to watch.
Posted by: Roger | February 06, 2010 at 04:23 AM
Humans cant look after themselves?
http://tv-foryour-pc.blogspot.com/
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