By William Schroeder, LPC and clinically reviewed by Teri Schroeder, LCSW
In this blog, I try to answer the question, is your television stressing you out? Your brain produces several kinds of electrical rhythms, or brain waves, that can be measured with an EEG. Beta waves show up when we are alert and thinking hard, alpha waves when we are relaxed or daydreaming, and slower theta and delta waves as we get drowsy and fall asleep. So what kind of brain wave action do we have when we come home from a hard day at work and watch television? Some early studies found that TV viewing tends to shift people toward the more passive alpha range, no matter how invested we are in the plot of Big Bang Theory. That’s right… when you say you’re going to zone out for a while and watch the tube, you may actually be zoning out.
Why TV Can Become a Habit
Consider the amount of time you watch television to relax from a stressful day. For many Americans, it adds up to around three hours a day. There’s no such thing as relaxing too much, right? Wrong. Heavy TV watching has been linked with poorer attention in some studies, especially in kids, and TV is rewarding enough that your chances of plopping back on the couch again and again go up. Watching television can be habit-forming. If you are used to unwinding this way and suddenly stop, you may feel restless or a little sad at first, almost like you’ve lost a friend.
So, we’ve all heard it before: too much of anything can be a bad thing. Is there anything you are putting off because you’re watching television instead? Do you find it difficult to concentrate on simple tasks? Constantly searching for a forgotten word/name when you’re engaged in a conversation with someone? And for those that refrain from watching too much television… do you spend exorbitant amounts of time on the internet or on your smartphone, and still experience problems with concentration and a feeling of anxiety about things you really should be doing instead?
4 Ways to Cut Back on TV Stress
If you and your family have a long-standing relationship with the TV set, or have a habit of sitting around with your iPhones out, it might be hard to implement sudden changes. Consider the following changes:
- Treat TV as a reward. “If I finish that painting/chapter in the novel/the bills, I can watch the latest Nashville episode on Hulu.”
- Put a tech-bowl next to the front door. The minute anyone steps into the house, their mobile phones go into the bowl. This will create a habit of real communication between family members, rather than a family of cyborgs sitting around the dinner table playing Angry Birds.
- Old-fashioned limits. Put the kibosh on TV watching… admittedly, this one is hard to do. Remember how habit-forming it can be? Self-control is not easy. So consider getting your ‘fix’ another way: go for a run outside, join a bowling league, or volunteer.
- Tech-free Saturday. Or Sunday, or whatever day is more convenient for you and your family. The idea here is to turn the television set and computer monitors off, and to put the mobile phones away for one day. It could be an interesting experiment, because when was the last time you didn’t have something distracting you for one whole day? It might be a beautiful and jolting realization to find out what you might have been distracted from for a long, long time.
Need help with stress? We can help! You can read about anxiety counseling and personal growth counseling on our dedicated pages or contact us to make a counseling appointment.
