Confessions of a TV-a-holic...make that a Media-a-holic

I have no doubt that Gitlin would have a field day criticizing my TV habits. I will admit, without shame, that I probably spend around 7 hours a day in the vicinity of a television. I watch the 8’oclock hour of the Today Show, and the Ellen Degeneres show religiously. On any given night at least one of “my shows” is on. I try to watch the news at least once a day to get a feel for what is going on around me, and to listen for the weather report. Adding up just these things I would easily clock in at about 3.5/4 hours of TV viewing a day, or about 28 hours a week- more than a full day every week spent watching TV! Yikes right? Well as I said I easily clock an extra 2 or 3 hours everyday simply with having the TV on as background noise, watching an extra show because it is on right before or after one of “my shows”, watching the TV while I am at the gym, or catching bits and pieces of a show someone else is watching around me. Not only do I average about 7 hours a day of television, I probably spend around 4 hours a day on the Internet. Some of this time is spent on Blackboard for this class, but a good portion of it is dedicated to checking email, Facebook, People.com and MSNBC.com- and yes I do believe the MSNBC.com cancels out my addiction to People.com.

I am a self-proclaimed media-a-holic. I would rather not function without it, and if I was put in a position where I had to, I’m not sure how I would fair. My question, similar to an alcoholic or a drug addict is ‘how did I let this happen?’.
To a child growing up immersed in the culture of images, it appears the most natural thing in the world. It appears, in fact, to be nature. Expecting images and sounds to appear on command (or even when uncommanded or unwanted) feels as normal as expecting the sun to rise. Because it is so easy to change channels, scan for situations, surf, graze, click, go to another source of images and sounds, you assume that if you don’t like what you see or hear you can find something better. (Gitlin, 2002)
I think that that is part of my problem. I grew up in an era of media. I was socialized with television, computers, Nintendo, etc. My friends and I became friends discussing the merits of each member of New Kids on the Block, discussing the latest episode of the Mickey Mouse Club and Hey Dude, and trading tips on how to get the high-score in Duck Hunt. Media is as natural to me as the sun rising- it is much if not all of what I know.

I remember the summer between my sophomore and junior year in college, I spent the summer living and studying in Spain. During this time I did not own a TV and my Internet was limited to an hour each day- most of which was spent emailing friends and family back home. At the time I never thought I would have survived an entire summer without TV and Internet. But I did, and years later when I graduated college I spent two months backpacking across Europe, and once again I went without television and internet. Looking back, these were two of the best times of my life. Even though I wasn’t sure of Meredith and McDreamy’s status on Grey’s Anatomy, and I didn’t know if Lauren and Heidi were still friends on The Hills, I didn’t miss that part of my life. The time I would have spent in front of the television was spent touring historic buildings; exploring unknown cities and watching strangers go about their lives. I guess in a sense it was just another form of entertainment for my senses, but it was entertainment more similar to what Gitlin speaks of in Vermeer’s paintings. This time spent without media proves that it can be done, but could I do it without “rehab” in an exotic location?

If you asked me why I have to overindulge in media, I’d probably reason that it is a way to escape from life. While I read what is on the internet or watch a TV program, I can for the most part, forget about what is going on in my life, at least until the media somehow reminds me of what I am escaping. I think the media also keeps me grounded, as odd as it may sound. Of course I get envious when I see all of the designer possessions the women on Lipstick Jungle tote, or when I see how easy the girls on Gossip Girl have it. But later, when I watch the news and hear about how millions are losing their jobs, or how another innocent child or police officer was killed, it is easy for me to be grateful for what I do have.

Giving up media is hard. It is constantly around you. Even as I write this blog, holed up in the corner of Panera Bread, trying to escape the internet and TV at my house I am distracted my the Muzak they are piping through the restaurant. And even being away from my television I am safe in knowing that my TIVO is at home obediently recording “my shows”. And god- forbid the power goes out, or TIVO cuts off before the show is over, I know that I can go online tomorrow and watch the full show, almost commercial-free from the networks website.
We feel…that we have the right to be addressed by our media, the right to enjoy them, the right to admit faces of our choice into our living rooms and to enter into worlds without number, to follow them. We may not have the right to possess the beautiful faces and bodies we see there, the fortunes, the celebrity or power dangled before us, clamoring for our attention, but we have the right to want them, If we are let down, we have the right, almost the duty, to click and dip elsewhere at will. (Gitlin, 2002)

There is a commercial I saw recently, and I cannot remember what it was advertising, but it shows how emotionally attached people get to movies and television. In once scene a woman is crying at whatever situation the actor is portraying, in another scene a woman is yelling at the character in a horror movie. The commercial shows how attached we as viewers get to what we are watching. Part of the reason we watch certain shows it because they strike a cord with us- one of the characters reminds us of ourselves, the plot situation is similar to our lives. Gitlin writes, “we do demand something from our images, even if they are only “almost real”. We expect them to heighten life, to intensify and focus it by being better than real, more vivid, more stark, more something. We want a burst of feeling, a frisson of commiseration, a flash of delight, a moment of recognition”. (Gitlin, 2002)

I am a media-a-holic, and acknowledging that is the first step. I cannot say that I will give up television, but I will try to decrease the amount of time I spend watching ‘whatever is on”. I will still watch the Ellen Degeneres show because it guarantees me an hour of dancing and laughter, an escape from all of the seriousness in the world, but maybe I will try to not watch reruns, and instead read a book. I will still watch “my shows” in the evening because at this point I am invested in them, and as stupid as it may sound I do care what happens with Meredith and McDreamy, or what the next drama on Wisteria Lane will be, but I will make a conscious effort to turn the TV off when the program is over rather than watching whatever is on next. I will still check People.com everyday, but I will continue to counterbalance it with MSNBC.com and maybe some CNN.com sprinkled in.

Gitlin, T. (2002). Media Unlimited; how the torrent of images and sounds overwhelms our lives. New York, NY: Holt Paperbacks.