COLUMN: Television Could Rot Your Brain
By Ellen Simonson
The Daily Cougar (U. Houston)
11/19/2001

(U-WIRE) HOUSTON — Chances are that, at some point in your life, someone — probably a parent — has told you to "stop watching television, it rots your brain." If you dismissed this advice, a man named Wes Moore has some evidence for you.

Moore is the author of an essay called "Television: Opiate of the Masses," which can be found on freezerbox.com.

The word "addiction," he asserts, is generally thought of in terms of chemical substances.

But the definition he gives is applicable to many other things as well, including watching television: "a psychological or physical dependence on a particular experience that must be repeated in order for a person to be comfortable."

In the case of chemical addictions, a person's chemical of choice impacts his or her nervous system in such a way that it requires that chemical to operate smoothly. Chemical or not, any positive experience tends to be repeated, especially if it requires little work; this concept, termed "positive reinforcement," is notable in the case of television watching as well.

Researcher Herbert Krugman conducted experiments in which he observed that, in people who are watching television, the right brain is twice

as active as the left brain, a "neurological anomaly." The crossover from left to right brain releases endorphins, the body's form of opiates, which are also released during such activities as cracking one's knuckles, strenuous exercise ("runner's high") and orgasm.

The body suffers withdrawal symptoms when a regular endorphin-releasing habit is ceased. This has been proven to occur with television watchers in several studies. For example, a West German study had 182 people agree to stop watching television for a year (and get paid for their trouble). None of them made it longer than six months and, Moore says, "...all showed the symptoms of opiate withdrawal: increased anxiety, frustration and depression."

When you are watching television, your higher brain regions (the neocortex and midbrain, for example) shut down, and activity shifts to the lower brain. The function of the lower brain, or "reptile brain," is reactive — it merely responds to stimuli (the "fight or flight" response).

Also, it cannot distinguish between real and fabricated images, which is the job of the neocortex, so it reacts to television events and images as though they were real (releasing appropriate hormones, etc.).

Krugman's research also supported the theory that television watching "numbs" the left brain and shifts activity to the right, sometimes permanently. This is an ominous thought, as the left brain handles the organization, analysis and judgment of incoming data.

The consequences of this could be quite severe; long-term television watchers could find their judgment severely impaired, for example, and children plopped in front of televisions for hours every day might see their brains' development altered.

There's more evidence that television does indeed "rot your brain." Thomas Mulholland is a psychophysiologist whose research showed that

only 30 seconds of watching television causes the human brain to produce alpha waves, which are associated with inert, almost comatose

states of being. In Moore's words, "Mulholland's research implies that watching television is neurologically analogous to staring at a blank wall."

The implications of all this are that television actually has the power to change you. The more you watch it, the more time you spend with your brain effectively "turned off," in effect consciously reducing the amount of time you spend alive, conscious and a part of the world. Don't give an inanimate object the power to make you dumber. Your brain is a gift — use it.

Copyright ©2001 The Daily Cougar via UWire

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