Is Watching TV Good for your Happiness? (E58)

Happiness for Cynics podcast

This week, Marie and Pete talk about TV watching and whether it is good or bad for your happiness levels. The answer might surprise you.

Transcript

[Happy intro music -background]

M: Welcome to happiness for cynics and thanks for joining us as we explore all the things I wish I’d known earlier in life but didn’t.

P: This podcast is about how to live the good life. Whether we’re talking about a new study or the latest news or eastern philosophy, our show is all about discovering what makes people happy.

M: So, if you’re like me and you want more out of life, listen in and more importantly, buy in because I guarantee if you do, the science of happiness can change your life.

P: Plus, sometimes I think we’re kind of funny.

[Intro music fadeout]

M: Yay! We’re going to talk about one of… I think, a really controversial topic today, aren’t we Pete?

P: Oooh, well it’s one of my passions actually. If I was to be completely full on with my disclosure.

M: Really?

P: I am a TV addict. Yeah. I always was as a kid.

M: I like TV.

P: It’s gone into my adult years and I’m not [Prudish accent] ‘Oh, I don’t watch television, I just read books.’

Boring! Laugh. Give me Disney.

M: Ok, laugh. Fair, fair.

P: Laugh.

M: I have met people who don’t watch TV and don’t have a TV in their homes. And I often, you know, picture them being lovely families who have family dinners without any –

P: Oh, they’re way more functional.

M: Absolutely.

P: Really, I’m jealous. These people that don’t have TV like Jonathan Piet he was the guy in our year who didn’t have TV. He was really clever.

M: Yep.

P: And he introduced me to Lord of the Rings, there you go.

M: Yep, there you go. So, they’re reading books and they’re listening to podcasts.

P: I know, yeah.

M: They’re just expanding their minds and their horizons.

P: Yeah, so good.

M: And we’re watching…

P: Ha, ha!

M & P: Grace and Frankie. Laughter!

P: Oh my goodness, we just picked the same sitcom.

M & P: Laugh!

P: That’s buddies! Laugh. So we are talking about TV.

M: And TV watching and whether it is good or bad for your happiness.

P: I’m open to this. So I’m flying by the seat of my pants on this one. Marie has found some information and some studies on this.

M: Yes. So I put out a newsletter every week and in part of that I do a lot of reading about latest news, and we are going to be talking about one article that came out in Medical Express within the past week by Christian Van Nieuwerburgh,

P: Yes, well done Muz!

M: Laugh, and Kirsty Gardner-

P: See Kirsty’s name is much easier.

M: Much easier, laugh.

– Called How watching TV in lock down can be good for you, according to science.

P: Wow, It’s all about science.

M: That had me, right there.

P: Laugh!

M: I was like ‘Alright, I’m in!’ And also because there’s this part of me that has been raised and brought up to feel guilty about watching too much TV.

P: Yep, I had that self-imposed actually, I was never told that I shouldn’t watch TV. But you know, Jonathan Piet ruined me, laugh.

M: Yeah, I don’t think my parents, you know, we didn’t watch hours and hours of TV.

P: Mmm.

M: I think that this article in particular starts off by putting it in context of the lockdowns and the increase in people’s TV watching.

P: So people are watching more TV in the pandemic?

M: Absolutely and particularly when they go in to lock down.

P: Yeah, that’s understandable.

M: So, you know, we’re still in the pandemic but in Australia we’re not lock down right now.

P: True.

M: So, we’re still in this weird “in between” right now in Australia. But in countries that are in lock down, in the UK, they talk about stats that showed that during the first lock down, UK streaming and TV watching went up by 30% and people were watching as much as six hours of content a day.

P: [Gasp] Oh, that’s a lot.

M: Yeah, we’re judging now aren’t we?

P: Laugh! I’m a binge watcher, but six hours?

M: Six hours a day!

P: Yeah, wow.

M: That is a lot that.

P: Yeah, that is a lot. I need to clean something in between that.

M & P: Laugh!

M: Well, so they looked at TV watching, and I think just like the social constructs that we apply to ourselves, we just both went ‘eeuurgh, too much.’

P: Laugh.

M: Right?

P: But you can understand why though, you’ve got nowhere to go, you’re not allowed to go outside. So…

M: It makes sense.

P: It make total sense, and you’re like, ‘well, I’m forced to be home, so let’s binge watch that series that I’ve been putting off for two years that everybody else has watched and talking about around the pub.

M: Who did that?

P: Laugh.

M: Repeatedly?

P & M: Laugh.

P: I’m always a late watcher of series.

M: Me too.

P: I’m always two years late. I’m like ‘Have you seen Outlander?’

‘Yeah, it’s in Season five now, Pete.’

… ‘I’ll catch up.’

M: Laugh. I pretty much have to wait for two of my friends to tell me that something is good before I’ll –

P: Before you trust it, laugh.

M: Yeah, my time is limited.

P: Exactly.

M: So not only did TV watching increase by 30% but 12 million people in the UK signed up for a new streaming service during a lock down.

P: Yeah, wow.

M: That’s huge. And then Netflix has now more than 200 million subscribers worldwide. So, we’re watching TV. The question that we still haven’t discussed is whether or not it’s good for you.

P & M: Laughter.

P: Well, I use TV to relax. At the end of a day.

M: Mmm hmm.

P: … I’m usually a pretty active person, like I’ll go to work and I’ll cycle here and I’ll play some volleyball, go to Gym and I’ll do some yoga but them when I get home, and I lie on my lovely couch, that TV is on and it’s like ‘yeah, chill.’ And I’m actually going through a bit of a period now, having gone back to university, where I’m physically not watching television.

M: Mmm hmm.

P: I’m like ‘I’ve gotta read, I’ve gotta study’ and even now I’ll pop something on just for half an hour, usually an opposite of Grace and Frankie. That just lets me unwind or something that I’ve watched before that I don’t necessarily have to focus on. But I use it as that I’m doing nothing.

M: Do you have a sick movie? When you’re home sick, and you put it on and you know it’ll be OK and you fall asleep.

P: Anything on the Disney Channel.

M: Laugh.

P: Where there’s singing and princesses and leading men, laugh.

M: Love it. When I was a kid for me, it was always Annie.

P: Ah.

M: Mum would put the VHS in, laugh.

P: Oh, gosh. Yes, laugh.

M: And I’d have two minute noodles for lunch and creaming soda.

P: Oh Ann Reinking. God bless us all.

M: Yep. So we know that TV can bring us positive emotions as we’ve just talked out there.

P: Yes.

M: And that is the first crux of the argument.

P: Yes.

M: That positive emotions can help with mood and can help with mental well-being.

P: Agreed.

M: And this has been researched by a million different people, including, you know, the father of positive psychology, Martin Seligman.

P: Ooh.

M: So, positive emotions are one of the building blocks of our well-being. So it makes sense if we’re going to watch feel good shows on TV that they’re going to give us positive emotions.

P: Mmm. We need the Hollywood happy ending.

M: Yes, so this is the first lesson. What you watch matters.

P: Laugh, don’t watch Russian drama.

M & P: Laugh. Or French… anything.

P: No Chekov!

M: Laugh.

P: No Irish.

M: It matters what you watch if you want a positive outcome from it.

P: Ok.

M: From a mood perspective, and during a lock down we can all use a little bit more positive and a little bit less negative. So, if your go to is war movies or crying dramas, you might want to change what you normally watch rather than decrease the amount of hours you watch.

P: Is there a sort of cathartic experience, though, in that big drama film that gets you absolutely bawling your eyes out? Laugh. I feel quite uplifted after watching something like that, I feel very satisfied.

M: For six hours a day?

P: …

M: Yeah, So I think that.

P: Laugh.

M: I think the everything in moderation thing is really what we’d would point to here.

P: But does this come back also to the argument of, it’s taking you away from your inside head. So watching a film that’s really engaging and truly beautiful, even though it leaves you in a weeping mess at the end of it, does that still have a positive effect because it’s taking you into awe inspiring and motivating stories and gives you an insight into the ultimate triumph of the human spirit?

M: So, I’d argue there that the things that you said before the I balled for five minutes part.

P: Laugh.

M: Were things that are making you feel good and whether that was a podcast that opened your mind to a whole other field that you’d never considered.

P: Yes.

M: Whether it was the theory of relativity or creating artwork on the streets of Chile or whatever it is that gets your attention and –

P: And holds it.

M: Yep.

P: It has that mindfulness moment that we always talk about.

M: Yep, and creates positive emotions and positive emotions for someone like me. I’m very drawn to intellectual pursuits, and so I could sit there and read for hours on end and feel really good about that. Whereas that might be someone else’s version of hell.

P: Yep.

M: Right? So, it is very subjective.

P: So, it’s a personal perspective.

M: Personal thing. But if, you know, if you find awe,

P & M: Laughter.

M: And then have a bit of a cry. But then overall experience it as a positive emotion or a positive experience, then I’d say that could be beneficial.

P: Good.

M: Definitely. So, Barbara Frederickson and again just coming back to this article because I do want to give credit, where credit’s due. We are discussing an article.

P & M: Laugh.

P: We did not write this stuff.

M: We did not write this, we are just discussing the various parts of this article, so I didn’t want to be in trouble for plagiarism.

P: Thanks Barbara.

M: Laugh.

P: We love your work.

M: So, Barbara Frederickson, as mentioned in this article, talks a lot about – and again another bigwig in the positive psychology space- talks about how experiencing positive emotions could have a long term sustainable impact on well-being. So when we feel good, our minds open and our awareness broadens.

P: Mmm. So we start looking for more feelgood.

M: Yes, absolutely. And this is actually pointing to TV being a really good way to cope with the negative aspects of being in lock down or Covid more broadly.

P: I’ll take that as my excuse next time I’m challenged to binge watch.

M & P: Laugh.

M: So, we have also spoken a million times about how positive experiences and good mood impact your body, your physical body.

P: Mmm hmm.

M: So we won’t necessarily rehash all of that. But all of the great chemicals that run around in your brain definitely still apply in this situation as well. So, good for your mind, good for your body.

P: Unless you’re eating potato chips for six hours a day and pizza and not doing any exercise which can happen in lock down.

M: Well, I’m glad you mentioned that Pete.

P: Oh, did I just lead you into something?

M: Laugh. Because there is a big but!

P: Laughter! I could see my personal trainer friends going ‘What!’

M: A very big but that comes with all of this conversation.

P: [Silly voice] I’ve got a big butt, what’s the big but?

M: TV doesn’t necessarily always make you feel better. And there’s a lot of behaviours that come with TV watching, which can be bad for you.

P: Here we go, strap yourselves in people.

M: So, you’ve already mentioned sitting down for six hours is really not healthy, so anything you could do to encourage movement while you’re watching TV is really good for your body.

P: Mmm hmm.

M: So, if you can put a treadmill in front of the TV or one of those little stair climbers or just do squats on the couch, up and down, up and down or calf raises anything like that in ad breaks.

P: The treadmill works really well. I remember when I didn’t have a TV when I first went back to Sydney. I was living in Potts Point, I used to go to Fitness First Kings Cross because they had TVs in front of the treadmill, I could watch The Simpsons.

M: Maybe that is the trick for people who don’t watch TV. They’re all just in the gyms.

P: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

M: I like this.

P: It was great. I never ran, but I’d run for 30 minutes because I wanted to see the Simpsons.

M: Love it! It actually goes to a lot of the research on habit making.

P: Mmm hmm.

M: If you have something that you want to make a habit. Make it about the reward.

P: Yep.

M: Yep.

P: Yep.

M: Simpson’s, I love it.

Okay, so firstly, sitting [for prolonged periods] is really bad.

Secondly, it opens a lot of people up to binge eating.

So when you’re mindlessly watching TV rather than fully engaged in what you’re watching.

P: Mmm.

M: Our hands and minds tend to wander. We call that mindlessly watching. So, if any of you’ve ever found yourself out on the couch watching TV and also writing to friends on messenger or checking your e mail.

P: Mmm hmm.

M: That’s mindless.

P: Yep, and then all of a sudden, a bag of Doritos has gone when you only intended to wait a half of them.

M: Mmm hmm. Yep.

P: Yes.

M: I mean, I’ve never been there.

P: Laugh!

M: All the doughnuts… I don’t know what you’re talking about Pete?

P: I’m laughing, I’ve seen it! I have evidence!

M & P: Laughter.

M: What doughnuts?

P: Gluten free ones of course.

M: Laugh, oh dear. Moving on.

P: Fairy floss.

M: Fairy floss is on purpose always on purpose.

P: Laugh.

M: So, watching TV mindlessly, apart from the potential weight gain implications of mindless TV watching, that is your danger zone. So, if you are just mindlessly moving through channels to pass the time.

P: The scrolling concept!

M: Yep.

P: So dangerous.

M: Absolutely.

P: And you could do it on devices as well, where you if you’re just mindlessly scrolling and you’re not stopping to purposefully read or purposefully watch, that’s the first sign I think of danger.

M: And the danger here is that you are probably doing that at the expense of other things that a good for your well-being.

P: Yep, Absolutely.

M: So, if you’re spending hours mindlessly scrolling to fill the hours in the day, you’re probably not spending time preparing and cooking healthy meals. You’re probably not spending time going out in exercising socialising with friends, whether it is virtual in the current environment or whether it is actually in person. All of those things are really important. And if we’re scrolling mindlessly for endless hours, it often comes at the expense of all those other activities.

P: Yep, I couldn’t agree more.

M: Yep. And a lot of people will do this the most with their significant other.

P: Now that intrigues me, all these couples sitting down on their devices and not actually looking at each other.

M: Well, I don’t know about you, but I get home from work and I’m naked. So it takes an actual mental effort not to sit on the couch with my husband after dinner. Now we make sure we do device free dinners.

P: Yep.

M: But then after that, it’s not like I want to open a philosophy book and discuss Kant.

P: Oh, no, no, I can understand.

M: So, it is that relax time at the end of the day, and I have an early morning routine, and then I do a 10 hour day at work. And then there’s dinner, and you know by the time we’re done with all that, eeuggh, exactly.

P: True.

M: But what it does mean is that time on the couch. You kind of feel like you spent time with his significant other. But you really haven’t.

P: You haven’t engaged with them.

M: Yeah, absolutely, and that’s a really dangerous place for the relationship to get to is where you are spending time together, but you’re not spending quality time together.

P: Sort of explains the whole concept of the goggle box TV show, doesn’t it.

M: Oh, I love goggle box!

P: People actually conversing whilst they’re watching something I actually when I first heard about this I thought ‘Oh how silly, I don’t want to watch people watching TV’, but the actual idea of it is like ‘yeah, it’s actually discourse and it’s families spending time watching TV and commenting on what they’re seeing.’ And you see different perspectives that’s quality time.

M: And sharing in the experience. So that is again, yeah, like you could have written this article Pete.

P: [derisive noise]

M: That is the next point. If you are going to watch TV with someone else, you can make it a social experience.

P: Mmm hmm.

M: So, don’t fast forward through the ads. Actually, discuss what you’ve seen.

P: Yeah, interact with each other. I like that idea.

M: Absolutely. So, I want to ask Pete if you had to recommend some shows for people in lock down that will bring them positive emotions?

P: Ooh, yes. I’m going to show my nerdy side here.

M: Go for it.

P: I got entranced by an ABC TV series called Searching for Superhuman. It was only a very short serious. I think there were only six episodes and It’s all about the body and our awareness and what we’re doing. And, I’ve actually referenced a lot of the research in our previous podcasts, laugh. I’ve gotten a lot of information from there for a while.

M: Nice.

P: Oh, this is good, and this is good.

M: Laugh.

P: But it was a science programme that was presented, and they had lots of interesting interviews and people talking about different aspects of the body and how we’re ageing and how we can age better and what we need to do in the future on what are current risks are. I found that fascinating.

And possibly anything with David Attenborough.

M: Hmm…

P: Yeah.

M: Well, that comes back to the awe factor that you were talking about.

P: Oh, oh!

M: Laugh, yeah?

P: And there’s another woman [Samantha Morris], I can never remember her name. She’s the animal geek on ABC. What she does is she watches all the Facebook videos of people doing stupid things with wild animals.

M: Laugh!

P: And then she actually breaks down what’s going on. And she’s like ‘Look, the sea lion was ready to pounce. He went down before he came up and grabbed that Chinese girl and pulled her into the ocean.’ She’s very funny, she’s got big glasses and she’s wonderful.

M: Love it. For me, there’s some great recommendations. At the end of this article, they mention Queer Eye, which I love.

P: Oh, yeah.

M: I love all of your HD TV kind of home reno/ makeover.

P: That’s teary.

M: It is but in such a good way. And then definitely, Grace and Frankie.

P: Yes, laugh.

M: I always loved big Bang theory.

P: Oh yes, it’s still a go to, isn’t it?

M: It really is.

P: It’s witty humour, it’s written so well.

M: Absolutely, and Sheldon reminds me of my husband.

P: Laugh, I can’t get that image out of my head now.

M: Laugh, he’s a chemical engineer and student.

P & M: Laughter!

M: So, definitely they’re my go to’s. And we in the house have been watching Brooklyn 99.

P: Oh, ok.

M: So that brings out some laughs as well. The other thing I’ve started getting into is podcasts more recently.

P: Mmm, yes.

M: And audio books, so as I said before, I am drawn to learning new things, novel things, and I definitely spent a lot of time doing that during lockdown.

P: I have that in the car, listening to the BBC World Service, that was very interesting.

M: You know what I miss about the state’s [US], NPR National Public Radio they do some really good broadcasting, worth checking out.

P: Ok.

M: All right, well, on that note, if you find any positive programmes feel free to write in and let us know.

P: Do some research, go and spend six hours in front of a TV, see how you feel?

M: Laugh.

P: Write about it, blog about it, let us know.

M: Yeah, write to us and recommend your TV recommendations for positive emotions. But I think the summary of this article, and of everything we’ve spoken about is it’s all about taking control of your TV watching.

P: Mmm, mmm.

M: So being really, aware of your TV watching habits and when they’re healthy and positive and proactive and when they’re not, when they’re just mindless.

P: Yeah, good options.

M: Yep. So, what is the end conclusion? Is TV watching good for us?

P: I’m saying yes, because science says so.

M: Laugh.

And on that note, I think we’ll finish.

P: Laugh.

[Happy exit music – background]

M: Thanks for joining us today if you want to hear more please remember to subscribe and like this podcast and remember you can find us at www.marieskelton.com, where you can also send in questions or propose a topic.

P: And if you like our little show we would absolutely love for you to leave a comment or rating to help us out.

M: Until next time.

M & P: Choose happiness.

[Exit music fadeout]

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