Video Venom

Are TV addicts healthy?

Does heavy television viewing pose a hazard to psychic health? That was the theme of Being There, the 1979 movie starring Peter Sellers as a man whose perceptions of reality were totally derived from the sex, violence and vacuity he saw on the tube. Social scientists have said that TV may have a role in inciting criminal behavior and have found near-constant viewers to be alienated types who find the world a scary place.

Now comes a defense of TV addicts. In a new study, Paul Hirsch, 34, a sociologist at the University of Chicago, argues that heavy watchers have nothing to fear. On the contrary, "non-viewers are consistently more fearful, alienated and prone to suicide than light TV viewers." Hirsch's primary objection to past research on the effects of TV is the heavy reliance it has placed on the number of hours people spend with their sets on. Using data compiled by the National Opinion Research Center in Chicago, Hirsch found that while housewives and retired folks rank high among those whose sets glow eight hours a day, the numbers tell nothing about how closely they watch or even why. Considering their frequent solitude, Hirsch suggests, TV "is probably more of a solution to their problems than a cause." Other students of TV's impact have also ignored a crucial human factor. Hirsch says: "The men in the white coats give viewers no credit for having personal experiences from which to draw moral significance."

As for those rare instances where TV violence has been shown to trigger crimes, Hirsch insists that the programs are not at fault, since they almost invariably conclude with the message that crime does not pay. "In most cases," he insists, "the viewer is intelligent enough to see the entire picture and realize it for the fantasy and entertainment it is."

Other researchers dispute Hirsch's study. George Gerbner, dean of the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania and a leading theorist on TV's influence, calls it "interesting but flawed." Gerbner and his associates say that Hirsch misused statistics on TV watching from the National Opinion Research Center by basing his conclusions primarily on data about the heaviest and lightest viewers, who compose only 6% of those polled. Gerbner says that Hirsch is just "nibbling around the edges to discredit what is an ongoing study in the field." Perhaps the only firm conclusion possible now is that TV can indeed foster alienation, at least among social scientists.

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