Media Addiction FACTs
Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism.
– Carl Jung
Or media. HDTV is simply the most perfect narcotic ever introduced, and it ain’t for nothing that every handheld digital device sold on the planet now comes with a TV screen. Indeed, we now have the ability to get our electronic media fix no matter where we are or what we’re doing — 24/7.
Consider the following simple facts about our media consumption…
The statistics according to the Middletown Media Studies report from Ball State University, the only large scale observational study of American media consumption habits, are even more alarming. According to the report (published way back in 2004), the average American now devotes almost 12 hours of each and every day to media consumption. That’s a full 75% — three out of every four hours — of all our waking time.
Now consider…
The average digital cable customer spends $75 per month on digital cable TV. Now add to that an average $30-$40 per month for high-speed Internet service, and an additional $50 per month for the average mobile phone plan. That puts the baseline media consumption figure at about $160 dollars per month on average, not to mention the significant monthly costs associated with additional mobile phones, movie tickets, video on demand, music downloads and DVD/streaming rentals.
Of course most of the above costs are billed monthly on an all-you-can-eat basis irrespective of how much media we actually consume. With all other addictions to all other narcotics, however, we only pay for what we actually consume. Yet so intense and so complete is our addiction to media — and so oblivious are we to it — that not only are we willing to pay for all the media we actually consume, we’re willing to pay for all the media we don’t consume as well. I submit that the mere act of paying for a narcotic that we don’t consume would likely fail to satisfy anyone’s definition of sobriety, regardless of the narcotic and regardless of how they define addiction.
Ultimately, if we predicate our diagnosis of addiction on the amount of time and money an addict invests in the procurement and consumption of his or her favorite drug(s), what do the above statistics tell us about ourselves? Would we be able to invest as much time and money in any other substance and still avoid the label addict?
All behaviors good and bad incur consequences, addiction not least. What are the long-term consequences of living our lives addicted to media? If you haven’t already done so, now’s the time to check out Life on the Edge.
And if you’re struggling with addiction yourself, or know someone who is, you’ll definitely want to check out An Uncommon-Sense Guide to Addiction Recovery, a 21st-century approach to addiction recovery, and the perfect supplement to any addiction program for any addiction problem.
