THE ADDICTION TO TV
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A
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The amount of
time people spend watching television is astonishing. On average,
individuals in the industrialized world devote three hours a day to the
pursuit —fully half of their leisure time, and more than on any single
activity save work and sleep. At this rate, someone who lives to 75 would
spend nine years in front of the tube. To some commentators, this devotion
means simply that people enjoy TV and make a conscious decision to watch
it. But if that is the whole story, why do so many people experience
misgivings about how much they view? In Gallup polls in 1992 and 1999, two
out of five adult respondents and seven out of 10 teenagers said they spent
too much time watching TV. Other surveys have consistently shown that
roughly 10 per cent of adults call themselves TV addicts.
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B
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To study people’s reactions to
TV, researchers have experiments in which they have monitored the brain
waves (using an electroencephalograph, or EEG) to track behaviour and
emotion in the normal course of life, as opposed to the artificial
conditions of the lab. Participants carried a beeper, and we signaled them
six to eight times a day, at random, over the period of a week; whenever
they heard the beep, they wrote down what they were doing and how they were
feeling using a standardized scorecard.
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C
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As one might
expect, people who were watching TV when we beeped them reported feeling
relaxed and passive. The EEG studies similarly show less mental
stimulation, as measured by alpha brain-wave production, during viewing
than during reading. What is more surprising is that the sense of
relaxation ends when the set is turned off, but the feelings of passivity
and lowered alertness continue. Survey participants say they have more
difficulty concentrating after viewing than before. In contrast, they
rarely indicate such difficulty after reading. After playing sports or
engaging in hobbies, people report improvements in mood. After watching TV,
people’s moods are about the same or worse than before. That may be because
of viewers’ vague learned sense that they will feel less relaxed if they
stop viewing. So they tend not to turn the set-off. Viewing begets more
viewing which is the same as the experience of habit-forming drugs. Thus,
the irony of TV: people watch a great deal longer than they plan to, even
though prolonged viewing is less rewarding. In our ESM studies the longer
people sat in front of the set, the less satisfaction they said they
derived from it. For some, a twinge of unease or guilt that they aren’t
doing something more productive may also accompany and depreciate the enjoyment
of prolonged viewing. Researchers in Japan, the U.K., and the U.S. have
found that this guilt occurs much more among middle-class viewers than
among less affluent ones.
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D
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What is it about TV that has
such a hold on us? In part, the attraction seems to spring from our
biological ‘orienting response/ First described by Ivan Pavlov in 1927, the
orienting response is our instinctive visual or auditory reaction to any
sudden or novel stimulus. It is part of our evolutionary heritage, a
built-in sensitivity to movement and potential predatory threats. In 1986
Byron Reeves of Stanford University, Esther Thorson of the University of
Missouri and their colleagues began to study whether the simple formal
features of television—cuts, edits, zooms, pans, sudden noises — activate
the orienting response, thereby keeping attention on the screen. By
watching how brain waves were affected by formal features, the researchers
concluded that these stylistic tricks can indeed trigger involuntary
responses and ‘derive their attentional value through the evolutionary
significance of detecting movement… It is the form, not the content, of
television that is unique.
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E
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The natural
attraction to television’s sound and the light starts very early in life.
Dafna Lemish of Tel Aviv University has described babies at six to eight
weeks attending to television. We have observed slightly older infants who,
when lying on their backs on the floor, crane their necks around 180
degrees to catch what light through yonder window breaks. This inclination
suggests how deeply rooted the orienting response is.
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F
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The Experience Sampling Method
permitted us to look closely at most every domain of everyday life:
working, eating, reading, talking to friends, playing a sport, and so on.
We found that heavy viewers report feeling significantly more anxious and
less happy than light viewers do in unstructured situations, such as doing
nothing, daydreaming or waiting in line. The difference widens when the
viewer is alone. Subsequently, Robert D. Mcllwraith of the University of
Manitoba extensively studied those who called themselves TV addicts on
surveys. On a measure called the Short Imaginal Processes Inventory (SIPI),
he found that the self-described addicts are more easily bored and
distracted and have poorer attentional control than the non-addicts. The
addicts said they used TV to distract themselves from unpleasant thoughts
and to fill time. Other studies over the years have shown that heavy
viewers are less likely to participate in community activities and sports
and are more likely to be obese than moderate viewers or non-viewers.
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G
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More than 25
years ago psychologist Tannis M. MacBeth Williams of the University of
British Columbia studied a mountain community that had no television until
cable finally arrived. Over time, both adults and children in the town
became less creative in problem-solving, less able to persevere at tasks,
and less tolerant of unstructured time.
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H
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Nearly 40 years ago Gary A.
Steiner of the University of Chicago collected fascinating individual
accounts of families whose set had broken. In experiments, families have
volunteered or been paid to stop viewing, typically for a week or a month.
Some fought, verbally and physically. In a review of these cold-turkey
studies, Charles Winick of the City University of New York concluded: ‘The
first three or four days for most persons were the worst, even in many
homes where the viewing was minimal and where there were other ongoing
activities. In over half of all the households, during these first few days
of loss, the regular routines were disrupted, family members had
difficulties in dealing with the newly available time, anxiety and
aggressions were expressed. By the second week, a move toward adaptation to
the situation was common. ‘Unfortunately, researchers have yet to flesh out
these anecdotes; no one has systematically gathered statistics on the
prevalence of these withdrawal symptoms.
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I
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Even though
TV does seem to meet the criteria for substance dependence, not all
researchers would go so far as to call TV addictive. Mcllwraith said in
1998 that ‘displacement of other activities by television may be socially
significant but still fall short of the clinical requirement of significant
impairment.’ He argued that a new category of ‘TV addiction’ may not be
necessary if heavy viewing stems from conditions such as depression and
social phobia. Nevertheless, whether or not we formally diagnose someone as
TV-dependent, millions of people sense that they cannot readily control the
amount of television they watch.
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Questions
1-5
Do
the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading
Passage?
TRUE
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if the statement is true
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FALSE
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if the
statement is false
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NOT GIVEN
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if
the information is not given in the passage
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1
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Study shows that males are more likely to be addicted to TV than
females.
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2
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Greater improvements in mood are experienced after watching TV than
playing sports.
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3
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TV
addiction works in similar ways as drugs.
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4
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It is reported that people’s satisfaction is in proportion to the
time they spend watching TV.
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5
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Middle-class
viewers are more likely to feel guilty about watching TV than the poor.
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Questions 6-10
Look at the following researchers
(Questions 6-10) and the list of statements below. Match each researcher with
the correct statements. Write the correct letter A-H in boxes 6-10 on your
answer sheets.
6
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Byron Reeves and Esther Thorson
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7
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Dafna Lemish
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8
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Robert D.
Mcllwraith
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9
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Tannis M. MacBeth Williams
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10
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Charles
Winick
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List of statements
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A
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Audiences
would get hypnotized from viewing too much television.
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B
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People have
been sensitive to TV signals from a younger age.
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C
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People are
less likely to accomplish their work with television.
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D
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A handful of
studies have attempted to study other types of media addiction.
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E
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The addictive
power of television could probably minimize the problems.
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F
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Various media
formal characters stimulate people’s reaction on the screen.
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G
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People who
believe themselves to be TV addicts are less likely to join in the group
activities.
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H
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It is hard
for people to accept life without a TV at the beginning.
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Questions 11-13
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or
D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 11-13
on your answer sheet.
11
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People in the industrialized world
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A
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devote ten hours watching TV on average.
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B
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spend more
time on TV than other entertainment.
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C
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call themselves TV addicts.
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D
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working
best.
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12
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When compared with light viewers, heavy viewers
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A
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like
playing sport more than reading.
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B
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feels relaxed after watching TV.
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C
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spends
more time daydreaming.
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D
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is more easily bored while waiting in line.
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13
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Which of
the following statements is true about the family experiment?
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A
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Not all subjects participate in the experiment for free.
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B
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There has
been a complete gathered data.
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C
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People are prevented from other activities during the experiment.
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D
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People
cannot adapt to the situation until the end
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