Television addiction is a type of disorder where someone uses their TV excessively. The person will experience the feeling that they always have to be watching something on their television. They feel a compulsion to watch TV that is so strong that sometimes they can't even control it. The cravings and effects are very similar to those of addiction to gambling or drugs and this disorder can happen at any age.When watching TV, the addict can feel extremely mesmerized. In some people, it has been known to "suck their energy away" making them more fatigued and less active than they normally would be.  In some scenarios, it has also made people quite delusional about things in real life eg:

• Sometimes, people have a very deep concern when they don’t know what’s going to happen to a character on a TV show
• They seem very upset, down, or depressed if they miss and episode
• If something bad happens in the show or movie, they feel bad in real life too
• They talk and gossip about characters as if they were real people.

In different age groups, most of the time there are different outcomes in behaviour. For example, in most 6-11 year olds, they are more aggressive because, at that age, children are more drawn to more violent TV shows than that of a normal 3-5 year old.

Like a lot of addictions, TV addiction can also lead to drastic weight changes, more injury (due to impressionable people attempting to do a stunt they saw on TV), insomnia, drug addiction (drugs such as alcohol are often seen on TV as the "cool" thing to do tobacco ads are also aired).

Sources:

Website Title: Television Addiction - Blogspot

URL:http://tv-addiction.blogspot.co.nz/

Date retrieved: 17/09/2012