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We all know to stay away from TV at all costs…it’s toxic and sucks up time better spent on doing things that actually add value to your life. Every once in while, especially after a hard day of work, a man just wants to chill on the sofa and unplug in front of the tube. Problem is that TV is anything but relaxing, as scientists have discovered that watching television at the end of a long day can make you feel guilty and like a failure.
The Independent UK reports…
The study, published in the Journal of Communication, found that people who were highly stressed after work did not feel relaxed or recovered when they watched TV or played computer games.
Instead they had high levels of guilt and feelings of failure.
Feelings of failure is the last thing a man needs after grinding it out at the office.
Researchers at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Germany and the VU University Amsterdam in the Netherlands asked 471 study participants how they felt after work or school the previous day and what media they had used.
They found that those who were especially fatigued were more inclined to feel that they were procrastinating by watching TV or playing games instead of doing more important tasks.
This led them to feeling guilty, which in turn made them feel less recovered and revitalised, diminishing the positive effects of using media.
Of course media use does have its purpose and previous studies showed that entertaining media can produce a “recovery experience” that helps people relax and detach from the stresses of work.
The latest study highlighted the paradox of using various media to relax after a stressful day, with those who might have benefited most from using media to recover instead experiencing lower levels of recovery, because they felt doing so was a sign that they had failed to exercise self-control.
Dr Leonard Reinecke, from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz who co-authored the report, said: “We are beginning to better understand that media use can have beneficial effects for people’s well-being, through media-induced recovery.
“Our present study is an important step towards a deeper understanding of this. It demonstrates that in the real life, the relationship between media use and well-being is complicated and that the use of media may conflict with other, less pleasurable but more important duties and goals in everyday life.
“We are starting to look at media use as a cause of depletion. In times of smartphones and mobile internet, the ubiquitous availability of content and communication often seems to be a burden and a stressor rather than a recovery resource.
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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
