Unhappy people watch more TV
Unhappy people spend their free time watching TV while happier folk read or socialize, research has found.
A study of 30,000 people found that TV watchers describe themselves as less happy than those who enjoy going out with friends or reading.
The 30-year study also found the unhappy TV viewers had more free time than happy people, no wonder they are so depressed if they are watching Jeremy Kyle all day.
51 percent said they had unwanted extra time on their hands compared to just 19 percent of those who have lives beyond the remote control.
If people who watch TV all day are less happy than those who read and go out, where does that leave those who spend too long watching internet porn?
"TV doesn't really seem to satisfy people over the long haul the way that social involvement or reading a newspaper does," says University of Maryland sociologist John P. Robinson.
"It's more passive and may provide escape - especially when the news is as depressing as the economy itself. The data suggest to us that the TV habit may offer short-run pleasure at the expense of long-term malaise."
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