Passage
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on the Reading Passage below. After you’ve attempted all of the questions, review your answers using the provided Addiction to TV reading answers with location.
Addiction to TV
- It is astounding how much time people spend watching television. In the industrialized world, people spend three hours a day on the pursuit on average, which is more than any other activity save job and sleep. If this trend continues for more time, a person who lives for 75 years would watch television for nine years. According to some observers, this devotion indicates that viewers enjoy TV and choose to watch it on purpose. But if that’s really the case, why do so many people have second thoughts about how much they watch it? In Gallup surveys conducted in 1992 and 1999, two out of every five adults and seven out of ten teenagers claimed they watched too much television. Several studies have consistently revealed that about 10% of adults identify as TV addicts.
- Researchers have conducted laboratory tests to examine how individuals react to television. They used an electroencephalograph, or EEG, to assess behavior and emotion in real-world settings as opposed to the controlled environments of the lab. During the course of a week, participants were given a beeper to carry, and we randomly alerted them six to eight times per day. When they heard the beep, they used a scorecard to record what they had been doing and how they were feeling.
- Those who were watching TV when we beeped at them reported feeling unhurried and docile, as one might expect. According to EEG tests, viewing is less mentally stimulating than reading when alpha brain waves are detected. More unexpectedly, the impression of relaxation disappears when the television is switched off, but the feelings of inactivity and diminished awareness do not. Participants in the survey claim that after watching, they find it harder to focus. After reading, however, kids hardly ever express such difficulty. Many report feeling happier after participating in hobbies or sports. People’s moods are roughly the same or worse after viewing TV. This might be as a result of viewers’ hazy taught perception that stopping their viewing will make them feel less comfortable. So, they frequently leave the TV on. Watching leads to more watching, which is similar to how habit-forming medications work. Therefore, the paradox of TV: despite the fact that prolonged viewing is less enjoyable, individuals frequently watch far longer than they intended to. In our ESM research, viewers felt less satisfied with the set the longer they sat in front of it. Long-term viewing might be enjoyable for some people, but for others, it can also be accompanied with a nagging feeling of worry or guilt since they aren’t doing something more worthwhile. Researchers from Japan, the UK, and the US have discovered that middle-class viewers experience this guilt considerably more frequently than viewers from less affluent backgrounds.
- Why does TV have such a strong pull on us? The attraction is partially caused by our biological “orienting reaction.” The orienting response, which Ivan Pavlov first defined in 1927, is our innate visual or aural response to any rapid or novel stimuli. It is an innate sensitivity to movement and potential predatory risks that is a part of our evolutionary heritage. The question of whether the straightforward formal elements of television, such as cuts, edits, zooms, pans, and sudden noises, activate the orienting response and maintain attention on the screen was first investigated in 1986 by Byron Reeves of Stanford University, Esther Thorson of the University of Missouri, and their colleagues. The researchers came at the conclusion that certain aesthetic tactics could cause involuntary responses and “derive their attentional worth through the evolutionary relevance of detecting movement” by observing how brain waves were altered by common traits. The distinctive aspect of television is its format, not its content.
- Very young children are naturally drawn to the sound and light of television. Babies watching television as early as six to eight weeks old, according to Dafna Lemish of Tel Aviv University. When laying on their backs on the floor, slightly older infants have been seen craning their necks 180 degrees to capture the rays of light that are breaking through their window. This inclination indicates the strength of the orienting response.
- The Experience Sampling Technique allowed us to examine nearly every aspect of daily living, including work, eating, reading, chatting to friends, participating in sports, and so forth. We observed that in unstructured conditions, like doing nothing, thinking, or standing in line, heavy viewers report feeling noticeably more worried and less pleased than light viewers. When the spectator is by themselves, the disparity grows. Robert D. McIlwraith of the University of Manitoba subsequently conducted a thorough investigation of survey respondents who identified as TV addicts. He discovered that self-described addicts are less able to control their attention and are more quickly bored and diverted than non-addicts on a test known as the Short Imaginal Processes Inventory (SIPI). The addicts claimed that they watched TV to pass the time and divert their attention from unpleasant thoughts. Additional research over the years has revealed that heavy viewers are more likely to be obese than moderate or non-viewers and are less likely to engage in sports and community activities.
- In a mountain town without television until cable arrived, psychologist Tannis M. MacBeth Williams of University of British Columbia conducted research more than 25 years ago. The town’s residents lost the ability to think creatively while addressing problems, to persevere through difficult times, and to tolerate free time over time.
- Gary A. Steiner of the University of Chicago gathered compelling first-person experiences of families whose set had broken about 40 years ago. Families have agreed to forgo watching during tests in exchange for money, usually for a week or a month. Some engaged in physical and verbal combat. In a study of these could-turkey studies, Charles Winick of the City University of New York concluded: ‘The first three or four days for most folks were the worst, even in many houses where the viewing was low and when there were other ongoing activities. During the first few days after a loss, routines were interrupted in more than half of all households, family members struggled to manage the extra time, and tension and hostility were shown. By the second week, it was usual to progress toward adaptability. Sadly, no one has carefully compiled data on the occurrence of these withdrawal symptoms; researchers have yet to elaborate on these anecdotes.
- However, not all academics would go so far as to label TV addictive, despite the fact that it does appear to fit the requirements for drug dependency. The displacement of other activities by television, according to McIlwraith, may be socially significant in 1988, but it still doesn’t meet the criteria for a substantial disability. He stated that if excessive TV watching is caused by social anxiety and despair, a new category for TV addiction may not be required. Nonetheless, millions of people feel that they are unable to easily manage the amount of television they watch, whether or not we officially diagnose someone as being TV-dependent.
Questions
Questions 1-3
- The average person in the industrialized world
- The average person in the industrialized world
- Watch TV more often than other forms of entertainment
- Claim to be TV addicted
- Enjoy working the most
2. When compared to light viewers, heavy viewers
- prefer sports to reading.
- Feeling calm after watching television
- Spend more time fantasizing
- Become bored more readily when waiting in line
3. Which of the following statements regarding the family experiment is correct?
- Not all subjects volunteer for the experiment for free
- All data has been collected completely.
- During the experiment, people are not allowed to do anything else.
- Individuals are unable to adapt to the situation until the very end.
Questions 4-8
Look at the following researchers (Questions 4-8) and the list of the statements below.
Match each researcher with the correct statements.
Write the correct letter A-H in boxes 4-8 on your answer sheets.
4. Byron Reeves and Esther Thorson5. Dafna Lemish6. Robert D. Mcllwraith7. Dennis M. Macbeth Williams8. Charles Winick
A – Too much television viewing might hypnotize audiences.
B – Humans have been sensitive to TV broadcasts since they were children.
C – Individuals are less likely to complete their tasks when watching television.
D – A few research have attempted to investigate various types of media addiction.
E – The addictive nature of television may mitigate the problems.
F – On the screen, various media formal characters stimulate people’s reactions.
G – Individuals who consider themselves to be TV addicts are less likely to participate in group activities.H – It is difficult for people to accept life without a television at first.
Question 9-13
9. Males are more prone than females to be addicted to television, according to studies.10. Mood improves more significantly after viewing TV than after participating in sports.11. TV addiction acts in the same manner as drugs do.12. It has been claimed that people’s satisfaction is linked to the amount of time they spend watching television.13. Middle-class television viewers are more likely to feel guilty about watching TV than the poor.
Answers for Addiction to TV Reading answers
1. Answer: B
2. Answer: D
3. Answer: A
4. Answer: F
5. Answer: B
6. Answer: G
7. Answer: C
8. Answer: H
9. Answer: NOT GIVEN
10. Answer: FALSE
11. Answer: TRUE
12. Answer: FALSE
13. Answer: TRUE
